


They are Gifted

by Hajinnie



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Action, Age Difference, Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Angst, Blood and Violence, Dark Fantasy, Discrimination, Drama, Dubious Morality, Dystopia, Friends to Lovers, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Mutual Pining, Psychological Drama, Romance, Superpowers, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-31
Updated: 2020-03-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:54:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 51,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22477468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hajinnie/pseuds/Hajinnie
Summary: Kyungsoo is part of a minority with special powers, known as "Gifted". But that isn't a necessarily good thing in this world.As a teenager, Kyungsoo was surrendered to the government. He becomes the ward of Park Chanyeol, an officer from a government branch composed of Gifteds. For once, Kyungsoo doesn't feel so different but it doesn't help that Chanyeol is so closed off, especially when Kyungsoo comes of age and starts developing feelings for Chanyeol.Things only get further complicated when Kyungsoo begins to question his place in this world.
Relationships: Do Kyungsoo | D.O/Park Chanyeol
Comments: 60
Kudos: 95
Collections: Mythsoological Fic Fest





	1. What we are

**Author's Note:**

> Self Prompt
> 
> \--
> 
> Thank you to mods, my betas who helped go over the fic and to you too when you read this <3

Kyungsoo is different and that isn’t always seen as a “good thing” in this world. For Kyungsoo is part of a minority of humans with special powers and abilities.

Decades ago, people such as Kyungsoo were known as “Abnormals” but due to pressure to reduce the stigmatization upon them, they are today known as “Gifted”.

These abilities can range from anything simple such as the power to levitate small objects to mental abilities such as being able to read minds and manipulate the emotions of others. There also exist high levels of Gifteds who are believed to even possess omnipotent-like abilities such as to alter the state of reality or even harness unlimited energy from their surroundings.

Only 1 out of every 2,500 people are Gifted. They can be born to anyone, even to two parents who aren’t Gifteds themselves, although there is a higher chance that the children of two Gifteds will also be one.

Although the source of these abilities has yet to be discovered since it was first observed a century and a half ago, it is believed to be caused due to genetic mutation and increased brain activity in Gifteds, compared to their non-Gifted or “normal” counterparts.

Due to heavy social stigma against Gifteds, which mostly stemmed from them being different and the fear in non-Gifteds towards something they didn’t understand, Gifteds often face discrimination and are even considered to be second-class citizens in their own country. 

Although governments have made moves to make discrimination against Gifteds- illegal, the fear and stigma still lie deep within the roots of today’s society.

Because Gifteds find it hard to find employment in everyday society due to discrimination, the government had set up special branches and dedicated professions for them.

This was to prevent Gifteds from turning to crime and illegal activities in order to support themselves because they were denied the equal opportunity of employment in the first place; which in turn created more stigmas against this already marginalized group of people.

Kyungsoo is part of the federal government’s “Commission Bureau of the Gifteds” or “CBG” for short, where a large majority of Gifteds within South Korea are employed at.

His rank is that of a lower junior field detective/agent who works in investigating and solving crimes or cases involving Gifteds.

Kyungsoo has been serving the CBG for two years now since he graduated from the high school specialized for Gifteds, which also served as a training academy to enable them to be employed right after graduation.

Since Kyungsoo was surrendered to the government and hence the CBG six years ago at the age of fourteen, his doesn’t think that his life has changed much, except that he certainly finds it better now that he is surrounded by people who are more likely to understand how he feels as a marginalized member of society.

And Kyungsoo knows for sure that he is helplessly attracted to his now partner and former guardian, Chanyeol.

**

On a rainy Wednesday afternoon sometime in May, Kyungsoo is out on a mission with his partner, lower senior field detective/agent Park Chanyeol.

Their mission this time had led them to a deserted park in the middle of a high-rise residential area. The case was concerning a Gifted who had the ability to create astral projections, which they used to scare, distract and then rob people of their belongings.

According to reports, the said Gifted was often witnessed in the area and the time they were most likely to commit their criminal activities was at these times where most people were still at school or at work.

The skies overhead were grey and overcast. It had been gloomy and cold all day since the morning, even though it was already supposed to get warmer in May. Occasionally, cold wind would also blow through to make things even colder as it is.

Kyungsoo was standing on the wet grass and wearing a distinct yellow raincoat in the middle of the deserted park as he gazed up at the gloomy sky, droplets of rain falling down upon his face and his eyes shielded by the thick black-framed glasses he wore.

Unfortunately, Kyungsoo’s ability did not allow him to cure himself of astigmatism and short-sightedness. Otherwise, he’d have that taken care of a long time ago.

“If you keep standing there like that, nobody who wants to commit a crime will even want to come out, especially with the raincoat of yours. Are you trying to join the fire brigade or something?” Chanyeol asked, standing under an umbrella under a tree near Kyungsoo.

Chanyeol was less inconspicuously dressed in a three-piece grey suit and tie, holding the umbrella in one hand and his lit cigarette in the other hand.

Since both Chanyeol and Kyungsoo were in a stakeout, they had decided to skip wearing the distinct uniform of the CBG.

“No, hyung, I was just standing here on the lookout for our suspect. I don’t want to miss him or her,” Kyungsoo explained, looking behind him to where Chanyeol was standing under the shade of the tree.

“Well, we’re just doing a stakeout. If he comes, he’ll be here. According to the reports, he preys on people walking down this park at this time of the day before robbing them. But if he changes his mind when he sees you dressed like that, that’s one less thing for us to worry about today,” Chanyeol mentioned, taking a puff of his cigarette before blowing the smoke out.

“-but I don’t want to get wet and sick from the rain. I’m not trying to scare him away or anything,” Kyungsoo further explained, looking down at the raincoat he was wearing and then back up at Chanyeol, whom he certainly wanted to please instead.

Under the tree and umbrella, Chanyeol simply shrugged.

Kyungsoo pouted to himself, hoping for more of a reaction that he could actually read from Chanyeol. Then again, Chanyeol was always like this in all the six years they’ve known each other and Kyungsoo was used to it.

“I’m going to walk around and see if I can find something,” Kyungsoo announced, looking over his shoulder at Chanyeol who simply stared back at him without many expressions.

Before Kyungsoo could even make his first step, Chanyeol halted him with a clear voice, “Wait.”

Kyungsoo froze in his spot and looked over his shoulder again at Chanyeol. And then, despite the pounding rain and the howling wind, the whole park seemed to fall quiet and even the air came to a standstill.

Kyungsoo could feel his heartbeat beginning to grow and his breathing even more rapid. Kyungsoo had been working long enough in this job and alongside Chanyeol to know what this meant.

This was where Chanyeol’s own special ability began to be of use. Chanyeol’s ability was to control the ability of other Gifteds, either it is amplifying or reducing their ability by simply initiating skin contact on any part of the target’s body.

A passive trait of Chanyeol’s ability was that it enabled him to sense the presence of another Gifted within a nearby radius of himself.

Chanyeol pointed to a direction in front of him but before Kyungsoo could turn around again to face in the said direction, he was thrown back full force by what appeared to be a humanoid-like monster with tentacles for a beard and hands.

The monster was flesh-colored and easily at least four meters tall, looking like it had just come out of a movie from the 1960s. The monster seemingly lacked several key facial features except for a pair of glowing red orbs for eyes and tentacles for a beard that sprouted above its mouth.

This was obviously the astral ability of the target they had nicknamed “Projector” for now, which had been used to scare off people into surrendering their belongings and hence robbing them.

Kyungsoo landed on his feet on the wet grass a bit far from where he was last standing at. Even though the target’s ability was said to only be a mere image and illusion, it certainly felt real and had a physical form, whatnot when Kyungsoo could actually feel it especially when he was just pushed back by the monster’s tentacles.

Although the government possessed a list and database of all the Gifteds and their abilities in the country, there were some who still managed to evade the government’s watchful eye and this particular target they were against was one of them.

Because it seemed that neither Kyungsoo nor Chanyeol had an exact idea of what his abilities were as it proved itself to be physical, as much as it was believed to be virtual.

Chanyeol, still under the tree, looked towards the projection of the monster as he analyzed the surroundings for the whereabouts of the said target themselves, while Kyungsoo scampered around the park in his raincoat to buy Chanyeol some time.

“Got you,” Chanyeol smirked to himself, bending the glowing cigarette in his hand before throwing it to the wet ground and leaving the umbrella under the tree.

Chanyeol stepped out into the rain, coming towards the side of the monster who was still preoccupied with Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo had yet to use his ability as he was merely relying on the years of training and his own stamina to keep up and avoid the attacks. Kyungsoo could see Chanyeol approaching the monster and he was sure that Chanyeol had pinpointed “Projector” and was ready to reduce their abilities to a minimum level.

Chanyeol had his hand stretched out towards the monster and Kyungsoo had reasons to believe that the target was hiding within the projection of the monster.

This was often the way Chanyeol and Kyungsoo would solve a fight when they were on the task. Whereby, Kyungsoo would apprehend their target head-on to immobilize or distract them so Chanyeol could come up and reduce their ability to a minimum level where it was almost rendered inactive.

While Chanyeol was approaching the monster from behind, getting himself gradually soaked from the rain, Kyungsoo was in front of the monster trying to distract the target controlling them.

Chanyeol was barely a few feet away from touching the monster to make contact for his ability, when the head of the monster rotated 360 degrees on the neck to stare back at Chanyeol with glowing red eyes, completely ignoring Kyungsoo in front of him.

“Ah, shit,” Chanyeol swore under his breath.

As someone whose ability depended on controlling others’ instead, Chanyeol had to rely on weapons such as guns to defend themselves.

Chanyeol quickly reached into the inner pocket of his coat to retrieve his gun.

“-hyung!” Kyungsoo yelled from in front of the monster when it turned to face Chanyeol instead, knowing Chanyeol was defenseless when it came to situations such as these.

Kyungsoo ran around the monster to Chanyeol behind it and when he had just arrived by his partner’s side, all their surroundings turned into a sea of black from the ground and up to the sky, as if they were being blanketed by it. Even the rain seemed to disappear as they were trapped inside the ability.

Despite the blackness, they were still able to see each other and the monster in front of them, which began to grow in size by the second.

The monster roared at them, its voice booming and sending a shockwave that they were able to stand through. Then, the monster proceeded to whip out its also enlarged tentacles, ready to use it whip Chanyeol and Kyungsoo.

Chanyeol pulled the safety off on his gun and pointed it towards the now four times its initial size monster, aimed and ready to fire.

“No, hyung, don’t shoot! What if the target is inside there? We might hurt them,” Kyungsoo halted Chanyeol, “I’ll take care of this. Just try to get away for now.”

Chanyeol clenched his teeth, “Fine.”

While Chanyeol ran away in the opposite direction, heading as far as he could within the cage of darkness they were trapped in, Kyungsoo stood face to face with the monster that slammed down a large tentacle easily the girth and weight of a car down on him.

But instead of being smashed down by the massive tentacle, Kyungsoo was unscathed when he simply put a hand out to stop it.

Kyungsoo looked back up into the monster’s glowing red eyes, holding its tentacle up above his head, “Please cooperate. We only want to take you in for questioning. We can help you.”

For sure, the monster and hence the target controlling it didn’t seem to want to listen to Kyungsoo. The monster lifted another of its tentacle and swung it with Kyungsoo as the aim, while also unleashing smaller-sized tentacles in Kyungsoo’s direction.

While Kyungsoo was able to block the bigger tentacles from smashing him into pulp, he was distracted by it to stop the smaller tentacles that aimed for his hands and neck instead.

The smaller tentacles restrained Kyungsoo’s hands and gripped around his neck in a chokehold, attempting to strangle the breath out of him. 

Kyungsoo was too occupied with stopping and blocking the onslaught of larger tentacles trying to turn him into juice, to even try and get off the smaller tentacles strangling and restraining him.

Kyungsoo was running out of air and his vision was beginning to blacken from the lack of oxygen. As if the surroundings weren’t shrouded in darkness either.

A large tentacle had been slammed down into his arm and he was now feeling the pain, hoping that his arm wasn’t broken.

On top of all that, Kyungsoo was basically rendered immobilized and almost keeling onto the ground with the pressure put onto him by the various tentacles hitting and holding him down.

Kyungsoo would have preferred to finish a mission without even having to use his ability but it seemed that he would have to do just that now.

Kyungsoo was still able to make a fist with his palm, even if he wasn’t able to move the arm attached to it. That was all he needed to activate his ability, though.

Kyungsoo’s ability was that of telekinesis, which allowed him to control anything that was in the line of his sight; which included inanimate objects, plants, animals, regular humans, and even other Gifteds.

While smaller things were easier to control, larger things and more powerful Gifteds were harder for Kyungsoo to easily interact with.

With his target in mind being the monster itself, Kyungsoo through his ability, was able to telekinetically push the monster back and away from him while also moving backward with levitation to prevent being dragged in the monster’s direction because of the tentacles still holding him them.

Once Kyungsoo was free from the monster’s grasp, he turned around to find Chanyeol standing near him.

“There’s no way out of here. It’s like an endless loop and you’ll just end up where you came from. We’re stuck in an ability it seems,” Chanyeol informed.

“If I can get close enough to immobilize ‘Projector’, can you reduce their ability?” Kyungsoo turned to face to Chanyeol to ask.

“ _If_ I can get close enough, that is,” Chanyeol addressed.

“I’ll get you close enough,” Kyungsoo announced, pointing his palm to the ground beneath them and successfully levitating himself back up and making a sprint mid-air aided by his ability.

With spheres of energy that glowed orange-red concentrated in his palms, Kyungsoo rammed full speed into the monster, successfully avoiding all the tentacles before delivering a sucker punch square in the monster’s jaw.

Kyungsoo had not only punched the monster with energy infused into his fists but also delivered a wave of energy down into the monster that acted like an immobilizing electric shock.

As the monster began to twitch and thrash around looking very much electrocuted, its ability began to wear off and like glass breaking in pieces, the blackness surrounding them vanished.

They returned in the deserted park right where they last were with the rain falling down upon them again.

Kyungsoo nodded to Chanyeol, giving him the cue to proceed.

Chanyeol approached the monster, which was now lying helplessly on the wet ground like a beached whale and took off a glove on one hand before touching it and thus reducing out its ability.

Once the ability of the target was reduced out to the absolute minimum level, the monster disappeared in a puff of smoke and in its place was the same Gifted known as the codenamed “Projector”.

Kyungsoo continued standing beside “Projector’s” unconscious body, watching over him.

Chanyeol took out his tablet to reassess the case file and once he decided that all the describing criteria fit the alleged Gifted, he called in another team from the CBG to retrieve “Projector” whose real name was actually Song Jihwan.

“So we were right. This Song Jihwan guy is actually the person known as ‘Projector’,” Chanyeol clicked his tongue, reading through the details even with droplets of rain falling down on his tablet screen, not caring since it was waterproof.

Chanyeol continued reading, “Let me see. Nineteen years old, he never finished high school and is now resorting to stealing after his mother died a few months ago due to cancer. I hate it when we have to deal with these cases, where parents try to hide the existence of their Gifted children instead of reporting them to us so we can actually look out for them. Now that his mother is dead, he has no idea how to live like a normal person or possess the means to support himself.”

Kyungsoo looked down upon the still unconscious Jihwan and took off his raincoat to cover the latter, not wanting him to feel cold before he was brought in by the CBG.

“He’s younger than me,” Kyungsoo commented, tilting his head upwards to look at Chanyeol who was still scrolling through his tablet screen.

“Young and dumb,” Chanyeol rolled his eyes, “I blame his parents for this. Why do people still think the CBG only enslaves the Gifteds? I get that some parents just want to protect their children but if they had sent him to us when he was younger, we could’ve helped him. Now, this Jihwan guy becomes one of the reasons why normal people fear us Gifteds even more. The CBG actually helps give Gifteds the best life we could even ask for. If it weren’t for the CBG, we would have ended up like this too.”

Kyungsoo kept quiet, clutching his hands together and looking downwards. He didn’t want to say anything else. Chanyeol was callous at times but he had a point and his words were undeniably true.

At this point, Kyungsoo thought that he should have come to accept that the world was unfair especially for those like him and Chanyeol but somehow, Kyungsoo still could not bring himself to accept that.

It could be worse but also, Kyungsoo believed it could be better too.

It wasn’t long until personnel from the CBG arrived to detain Jihwan and bring him in for questioning, taking over the case from Chanyeol and Kyungsoo.

There existed a special court, whose duty was to oversee cases involving Gifteds, as the law did not allow for Gifteds to be tried or sentenced in the same court for non-Gifteds. Most, if not all, of the Gifteds that Kyungsoo and Chanyeol detained ended up being tried in this court.

Although this law and separation of courts were put in place to supposedly prevent bias against Gifteds, it had only further divided and marginalized them as “strange” and “different” in the eyes of regular society.

Once they had handed over the case to the prosecution team, Chanyeol and Kyungsoo were free to go for the day, although the case was not yet over and they would still have to do the paperwork for it later on.

Chanyeol offered to drive Kyungsoo home but he insisted on taking the subway home, knowing that his apartment was out of the way from Chanyeol’s; not wanting Chanyeol to have to drive further just for him.

Up until three months ago, Chanyeol and Kyungsoo were living together and carpooling every day made sense. Now that they were living apart, Chanyeol still wanted to extend the courtesy but it was always Kyungsoo who turned it down.

Kyungsoo himself did not have a car and certainly not a driving license either because the process to apply for one as a Gifted was way harder and tedious compared to that of a normal person.

Even buying a car was already a hard process for a Gifted so Chanyeol just drove around a company-issued car to him by the CBG.

Kyungsoo then proceeded home on foot to the subway station. By then, Kyungsoo’s clothes had dried up, although it left him feeling cold and hungry even. Kyungsoo often felt hungry when he was cold, something he was conditioned to in his past where he often found himself cold and hungry at the same time.

By the time Kyungsoo was making his way home, it was already the usual evening rush hour and Kyungsoo was stuck commuting with the majority of the working force of Seoul.

Kyungsoo usually didn’t mind other people, if he wasn’t so afraid of them discovering he was a Gifted that is.

From the outside, Kyungsoo looked like any young man around his age. He dressed like everyone else and he was well adept with social etiquette to blend in with the regular folk.

Kyungsoo was actually grateful that he wasn’t the type of Gifteds who had distinct physical appearances because of their ability because it helped him fit in, although he still sympathized with those who looked different than others. Kyungsoo could only imagine how much harder it was for them.

It was packed on the subway ride home but Kyungsoo managed to find a standing spot near the handlebars. Kyungsoo was also thankful that he was below average height and hence smaller than most people because it helped him hide better.

Kyungsoo spent his time looking at whatever on his phone, just so he could avoid making the least bit of contact with other people.

Although Kyungsoo was used to riding subways and public transport now, it still freaked him out at the thought that he might suddenly lose control of his abilities and accidentally wreck havoc and cause harm to innocent people.

The more things and people were around him, the higher the risk of devastation that Kyungsoo could potentially cause with his ability.

Kyungsoo already hated having to hurt people in the line of duty and knowing that he possessed the ability to do so at such an enormous scale only made Kyungsoo fear himself even more.

Kyungsoo was restless the entire subway ride home and although he managed to distract himself by looking at things on his phone instead, he still wished for nothing except for it to be over.

Therefore, Kyungsoo only found it easier to breathe and relax once he was outside of the subway station and walking down the path alone back to his apartment.

As usual, Kyungsoo came home to a quiet and empty studio apartment. It was cold and dark when Kyungsoo arrived, so the first thing he did upon stepping into the entryway was to turn on the lights and the heater.

After taking off his shoes at the door, Kyungsoo changed into his house clothes before plopping down on his bed, which was basically in the same place where both his living room and kitchen were.

Kyungsoo snuggled under his blankets, lying on his side as he went on his phone to pass the time until he felt hungry enough to make dinner.

Kyungsoo turned twenty years old in January and hence became a legal adult in the eyes of the law. Within a month of his birthday, Kyungsoo had already found a place to stay at, which was open and accepting for Gifteds.

Since then, Kyungsoo had quickly moved out of Chanyeol’s place, where he had been previously staying at for the past six years.

Kyungsoo was determined to be independent now that he was a legal adult, hence his decision to move out even though he was leading a rather comfortable life with Chanyeol.

Unlike Kyungsoo who was now living in a cramped studio apartment in an old building in a cheaper part of Seoul, Chanyeol lived in a fancy apartment with several bedrooms in an expensive part of Seoul.

Even when Kyungsoo graduated high school and started working for the CBG, Chanyeol never asked for Kyungsoo to split the expenses for their utilities or groceries. Chanyeol took care of everything, even when Kyungsoo offered to help.

Kyungsoo could still have all of that privilege if he continued living with Chanyeol but Kyungsoo didn’t want to feel like a burden, even if Chanyeol had never implied that Kyungsoo was being one.

For Kyungsoo, it was already enough that Chanyeol agreed to take him in six years ago, when Kyungsoo was abandoned by his family and surrendered to the government for simply being who he was.

Kyungsoo imagined that he could have ended up like the Jihwan guy they apprehended earlier that day if Chanyeol had not been willing to become his guardian during his teenage years.

Kyungsoo lifted himself from his lying position and sat up on the bed, putting his phone down on the mattress.

Kyungsoo looked to the small bedside table beside his bed, where he put his glasses and phone on while he slept.

On it was a small potted cactus Chanyeol had given as a housewarming gift. Beside the cactus was a frameless picture of himself and Chanyeol, taken on the day Kyungsoo graduated from the CBG’s academy, where all almost Gifteds like him went to study before joining the organization.

That was two years ago and Kyungsoo remembered thinking that Chanyeol wouldn’t show up for his graduation, only to be almost moved to tears in joy when Chanyeol did show up halfway through the ceremony with a bouquet of flowers for him too even.

Since that day when Kyungsoo was only eighteen years old, he finally realized the strong feelings he had for Chanyeol were more than just platonic.

**

Kyungsoo was born to a family of non-Gifteds. He was the younger child of two and had an older brother three years apart. Kyungsoo’s life was relatively normal until he started showing Gifted-like abilities at the age of six, when he unknowingly lifted and smashed the fridge into a wall because of his abilities.

After that, Kyungsoo’s father became adamant about reporting and surrendering him to the CBG, although his mother insisted on keeping his ability a secret in fear of the government and the CBG who allegedly “enslaved” Gifteds.

The dispute caused a rift in Kyungsoo’s parent’s marriage and within a year since his abilities were discovered, Kyungsoo’s father left the family, taking his older brother with him.

Kyungsoo was then raised solely by his mother, who worked several minimum wage jobs to support both herself and Kyungsoo.

But eventually, she too caved under the pressure and stress of life as a struggling single mother with a Gifted son.

At the age of fourteen, Kyungsoo came home from school to find his clothes and personal belongings packed into a single bag. At the door, two agents from the CBG were already waiting for him, ready to take him away.

Kyungsoo’s mother hugged him one last time before handing him over to the agents. That was the last time Kyungsoo ever heard from his mother as she migrated overseas to work in a new job, cutting off contact with him after.

While parents could choose to raise their Gifted children if they wish to, they were still under strict surveillance and had to abide by laws set up by the CBG; such as sending their Gifted children only to the academy set up by the CBG, self-reporting to the headquarters every week, not allowing any travel unless approved and so forth.

Due to the restrictive laws Gifteds were subjected to even as a minor, most parents often chose to give them up to the CBG where they would hence become wards of the state.

Once a minor Gifted was surrendered to the CBG as a ward of the state, they would be moved into a group home with the other Gifted children who shared the same fate of them.

This was where Kyungsoo also ended up at but for only less than a month.

In the first few weeks since Kyungsoo moved to the group home, he underwent almost daily tests and interviews conducted by the staff. The only time when Kyungsoo found himself alone was when he went to sleep in a small dormitory-like room that reminded him a lot of the apartment he lived in now.

The staff at the group home took blood and fluid samples from Kyungsoo. They asked him many questions about his powers and gave him several hypothetical scenarios for him to solve.

Kyungsoo was even brought into a large testing room where he was told to use his powers as much as he could to move and destroy large and heavy objects with telekinesis.

During the power demonstration tests was where Kyungsoo was first acquainted with Chanyeol.

While Kyungsoo was encouraged by the staff to push his powers to the maximum so they could properly analyze his ability, Chanyeol was on standby to make sure Kyungsoo’s powers didn’t go out of control.

Chanyeol was twenty-four years old at the time he first met Kyungsoo, having graduated from the CBG academy six years earlier, after spending his entire life there because he had been given up to them since birth.

Chanyeol’s mother was a Gifted herself, whose ability made her skin impervious to attacks and turn green in color. When she had first held Chanyeol after giving birth to him, her ability was instantly reduced to such a low level until her skin color changed into that of a regular person.

Because of that, Chanyeol’s ability was discovered since birth and although his own mother worked for the CBG herself, she was assigned to a different branch and Chanyeol spent his life apart from her.

As Chanyeol grew older, he learned how to control his ability to either help reduce or boost the ability of others, although his ability was active at all times and could not be turned “off” unlike the ability of most Gifteds.

During those testing and power demonstrations, Kyungsoo never talked to Chanyeol. It was the staff who introduced Chanyeol to Kyungsoo, assuring Kyungsoo that he didn’t need to worry and could use his powers as much as he wanted because Chanyeol was there to stop it if anything went wrong.

Chanyeol was always standing a foot away from Kyungsoo with his arms folded over his chest, watching Kyungsoo pick up tones of cement blocks with his ability before lunging it halfway across the room.

In one of those sessions, a particular female instructor was purposely trying to see the extent of Kyungsoo’s powers and even requested him to lift the entire building they were in.

Even though Kyungsoo felt like he should have protested when he was asked to do so, he did it anyway because he was afraid of being thrown out by the CBG and then having nowhere else to go.

Being young and not yet attuned to his ability, Kyungsoo lost control of his ability by overexertion, causing the entire building to shake and the ground beneath it to crack.

When Kyungsoo remembered that there were hundreds of people in the building, children like him too, Kyungsoo panicked in the fear of hurting them and his powers began spiraling further out of control.

It was Chanyeol who defied the instructor’s orders on letting Kyungsoo be at it, so they could properly analyze the maximum output of Kyungsoo’s ability, even with the entire building threatening to crumble around them.

Ignoring instructions, Chanyeol grabbed Kyungsoo’s hand to reduce his ability, rendering it almost ineffective.

And despite the ground beneath them about to crack open and the building they were in still shaking violently, Chanyeol still calmly and softly told Kyungsoo that it was alright and that everything was under control.

Kyungsoo remembered sobbing at the time and Chanyeol never letting go of his hand for hours after that. Looking back, Kyungsoo would have thought that all the sobbing and crying he did after that incident was actually annoying but Chanyeol never complained.

While Kyungsoo couldn’t remember what people told him after that, Kyungsoo did remember how safe and comforted he felt by just holding onto Chanyeol. For once, Kyungsoo felt no reason to be afraid of losing control and hurting other people.

Kyungsoo hadn’t even been at the group home for a month until he was told that he would be moving out of there and in with Chanyeol.

After the incident, the senior staff of the CBG had recommended that it was ideal for Chanyeol to be appointed as Kyungsoo’s guardian until he became of age, especially due to the way their abilities complemented each other.

Chanyeol himself had no idea how to care for someone else, especially a teenager, but he didn’t turn it down either when asked to do so.

From then on, Kyungsoo moved out of the group home and into Chanyeol’s apartment, moving yet again for the second time in a month.

Kyungsoo occupied the second bedroom in Chanyeol’s apartment and on the first night he moved in, Chanyeol made it clear that he would support all of Kyungsoo’s expenses. In exchange, Kyungsoo only needed to do half of the chores and made sure to keep the place clean and tidy while he lived there.

For Kyungsoo, he actually felt that it was a surprisingly low demand expected out of him, in return for being financially supported and housed until adulthood.

As the CBG’s academy for the Gifted was located away from the office headquarters building Chanyeol worked at, Kyungsoo woke up early on weekdays to make breakfast for himself and Chanyeol before going to school on foot.

Chanyeol would make breakfast on the weekends, allowing Kyungsoo to sleep in before they went to do the laundry together.

In the evening after classes, Kyungsoo would travel from the academy and then to the headquarters building, where he would train with Chanyeol until it was nighttime.

Kyungsoo would train with Chanyeol in anything he would need as a field agent one day; either it is in building stamina, learning to abide by protocols and even on how to control his ability better to subduing other Gifteds with his ability.

Kyungsoo learned that Chanyeol was a strict teacher who didn’t tolerate failure. If Kyungsoo made a mistake during their training, Chanyeol would make Kyungsoo repeat the same thing over and over again until it was ingrained into his muscle and memory.

Sometimes they were at the headquarters training until dawn because Chanyeol wasn’t satisfied at Kyungsoo’s performance.

Chanyeol was also very highly critical and praise came by very rare for him. But yet, when Kyungsoo came home with a report card to show that he was almost at the top of his class at the academy, he found Chanyeol smiling back at him and telling him he did a good job.

Chanyeol was very contradicting and his existence itself was almost like an enigma, which was maybe why Kyungsoo fell even harder for him, like a puzzle he was trying hard to solve.

After training in the evening, they would leave for home together, often going out for dinner because either of them was too lazy to cook.

Chanyeol would always let Kyungsoo order as much as he wanted, even encouraging Kyungsoo to eat more.

If they weren’t too tired when they got home, they would sit on the couch together and watch a movie before going to bed. Chanyeol never chose what to watch and left that decision entirely up to Kyungsoo.

Chanyeol never talked much and he hardly even laughed during a funny scene. Kyungsoo knew this for sure because he often found himself looking towards Chanyeol even with his favorite movie playing on the television.

Sometimes, Chanyeol was away on a mission and wasn’t home for a few days.

Kyungsoo would wake up in the morning to find that Chanyeol had already left because he never seemed to tell Kyungsoo before leaving, always doing it so suddenly and unannounced.

But pinned under a magnet on the fridge, Chanyeol would have put up some pocket money for Kyungsoo to spend while he wasn’t around.

Kyungsoo usually did not spend that money and kept it for himself, thinking that he might need it for something else more important in the future.

When Kyungsoo came home in the evening from the academy, he would already know Chanyeol was home by the smell of cigarettes that wafted through the air the moment he opened the door.

Chanyeol would be smoking on the balcony, with his sleeves rolled up and his tie loose, looking back at Kyungsoo under the rays of the setting evening sun, telling him, “Welcome home.”

And Kyungsoo would feel very much at home. Like he was made to belong here with Chanyeol.

All of that only proved to further solidify Kyungsoo’s feelings for Chanyeol that turned from adoration, reverence and eventually into love.

Kyungsoo never acted out on his feelings though, even after he graduated from the academy and officially became Chanyeol’s field partner.

Kyungsoo was afraid he’d ruin their relationship if he ever told Chanyeol how he really felt. Chanyeol was the last person Kyungsoo had in this world and he wasn’t out to lose Chanyeol anytime now, even if it meant repressing his feelings.

It was one of the reasons which drove Kyungsoo to move out of Chanyeol’s place. Apart from yearning for his independence, Kyungsoo also needed it as an excuse to spend less time around Chanyeol while hoping that his romantic feelings for the older man would fade.

But even when Kyungsoo decided to move out, it was also Chanyeol who helped Kyungsoo find a Gifted-friendly apartment; while also assisting with the physical moving process, even when knowing that Kyungsoo certainly had no problem with lifting heavy objects with his ability.

In the first few days after Kyungsoo moved in by himself, Chanyeol would continue dropping by daily to make sure Kyungsoo had his kitchen stocked with food and that all the amenities such as heating, water and electricity were up and running.

Chanyeol could also tell that Kyungsoo desired his independence and he now only stopped by Kyungsoo’s place every other week or so, apart from seeing each other every day at work.

But even though this was what Kyungsoo allegedly wanted, he found himself feeling all alone and empty, yearning for the days when he got to feel at home with Chanyeol.


	2. What we do

The following day after apprehending Song Jihwan a.k.a “Projector”, Kyungsoo and Chanyeol both had to write up reports but not before meeting with their direct superior, Kim Junmyeon, to debrief him on the case.

The meeting with Junmyeon took a few hours and after they were done with just that and still had a report to write, it was already lunchtime.

Chanyeol told Kyungsoo to go on ahead and have lunch first because he needed to smoke first, after hours of being cooped up in a meeting room without getting to leave. 

As usual, Chanyeol would go up to the smoker’s area on the balcony on the 8th floor of the CBG headquarters’ building to do so.

Kyungsoo wasn’t a smoker so there was no reason for him to be up there, although he chose to follow Chanyeol there this time.

Chanyeol noticed Kyungsoo following him and chuckled to himself as he leaned against the railings of the balcony, lighting up his cigarette with a pocket lighter.

“I don’t recommend you start smoking now,” Chanyeol teased, taking a puff from the recently lit cigarette, “-but still, you shouldn’t be here. The smoke isn’t good for you. We Gifteds aren’t immune from diseases normal people get.”

“I know,” Kyungsoo responded, “I won’t be long anyway.”

“Very well then,” Chanyeol turned around so he was leaning his front against the railings of the balcony, watching the scenery of the glass and steel skyscrapers that surrounded them everywhere with the bustling traffic of Seoul below them.

“Umm…hyung?” Kyungsoo called out.

“What is it?” Chanyeol asked without moving a single inch from where he was.

“I’ve been called to train some students at the academy this afternoon after they finish classes so I won’t be here after lunchtime. But I was wondering if you wanted to spend some time together in the evening. Perhaps, we could go and have dinner together at the usual noodle place?” Kyungsoo suggested, “I just wanted to tell you earlier in case you might have some plans already.”

“When do I ever have plans that don’t involve work?” Chanyeol chuckled a little, “I don’t have a personal life and you know that.”

“So, is that a yes?” Kyungsoo already seemed more cheerful.

“Of course,” Chanyeol confirmed, “So the academy is still making you train some of the students there, are they?”

“Yeah, I’m not a fulltime mentor like you were to me though. I’m just an instructor who comes every now and then to teach those kids with telekinetic powers like mine too,” Kyungsoo clarified.

“Well, have fun then. I’ll pick you up at the academy around seven in the evening? Is that good?” Chanyeol turned to look at Kyungsoo to say.

Kyungsoo nodded, “Yes, seven is good. I’ll wait for you at the gate.”

Kyungsoo almost skipped in joy on the way out from the balcony and back into the building. Chanyeol looked over his shoulder at Kyungsoo’s demeanor and smiled to himself.

For Chanyeol, knowing Kyungsoo was doing alright was more than enough.

As promised and like the strict and punctual man he was, Chanyeol was already in his car outside of the gates of the CBG’s academy at seven sharp.

The security guard at the gate recognized Chanyeol and asked him if he would like to wait inside instead. Chanyeol had to turn down that offer.

After living in the academy’s group home for the first eighteen years of his life, never knowing who his father was until he was an adult and only getting to see his mother twice a year, Chanyeol wasn’t so keen on returning back there anytime.

Kyungsoo himself didn’t arrive until at least ten minutes later, almost running through the academy’s gates and waving goodbye to the security guard before hopping into the passenger seat of Chanyeol’s car.

In the car, Kyungsoo quickly took off the blue jacket uniform that employees of the CBG wore over their usual clothes.

Knowing that a majority of those employed in the CBG were Gifteds themselves, wearing the uniform outside in public and while off duty was almost like an open invitation for people to stop and stare at them with disgusted faces.

Chanyeol started up the engine soon after and noticed something before he started driving. Chanyeol then leaned over Kyungsoo’s seat.

Kyungsoo was almost startled by Chanyeol suddenly approaching him like that, Chanyeol’s upper half almost leaning over him and their faces dangerously close.

“Please wear your seat belt,” Chanyeol’s remained straight as he pulled on Kyungsoo’s seat belt before helping to fasten it for him.

“Ah…yes,” Kyungsoo was only able to say, still a bit frozen but also enamored at the same time because of Chanyeol.

Most of the time, Kyungsoo felt that it was almost impossible for him and Chanyeol to ever be together as lovers but at some times like these, Kyungsoo felt it in himself to be bolder and upfront about his feelings so he could see where it took them from there.

The usual noodle restaurant they frequented was owned by a Gifted much like them too. The owner himself was a former employee of the CBG who had retired some years ago and then chose to set up his own shop, which was after lots of applications and going through procedures because the law made it harder for Gifteds to set up their own businesses.

The restaurant was a small one, located in a back alley in a part of town which was almost deserted and very quiet at night. Seats were only available around the bar area and despite all that, it was a popular hangout for Gifteds and almost always full of them.

Kyungsoo ordered two bowls of pork rib soup noodles. Chanyeol rarely ordered for himself when they were eating together, choosing to let Kyungsoo decide his meals for him.

Chanyeol was also a fast eater and by the time he was finished with his bowl, Kyungsoo was only half-done with his bowl.

Chanyeol then spent the rest of the time with his cheek resting on a perched palm, looking at Kyungsoo while he ate.

When Kyungsoo noticed this, he suddenly became flustered and a bit conscious of himself whatnot with his crush and former guardian looking at him like that.

Kyungsoo almost choked on his noodle and Chanyeol was quick to hand him a glass of water while rubbing his back, “Don’t eat too fast. Take your time.”

Kyungsoo nodded, squinting his eyes as he regained his breath and was finally able to swallow properly.

Chanyeol chuckled a bit, “Are you still hungry? Do you want to eat more?”

“No, I think I’m good,” Kyungsoo shook his head, wiping the corner of his mouth with a napkin.

“You don’t want any to take home too? You might get hungry later at night. You can always reheat it in the microwave,” Chanyeol suggested.

“No, it’s alright,” Kyungsoo assured, shaking his head to decline the offer.

Chanyeol simply nodded in understanding, not pressing it any further.

After Kyungsoo had finished eating and was now having a couple of drinks with Chanyeol before leaving, Kyungsoo decided to ask about something that had been on his mind for the past few days.

“-hyung,” Kyungsoo called out for Chanyeol sitting next to him.

Chanyeol was taking a sip of his beer when he looked over at Kyungsoo to his left, “Hmm?”

“I was just wondering about something,” Kyungsoo mentioned.

“-what is it about?” Chanyeol prompted.

“It’s about the unregistered Gifteds whom we arrest. Well, most of them are adults and some of them are even in their forties when we finally find out about them. Most of the time, they have resorted to doing something illegal to survive and then they are put in a detention facility for the rest of their lives for their crimes,” Kyungsoo noted.

“-and what about that?” Chanyeol stiffened, straightening his back.

“Don’t you think that they maybe deserve a chance as we both did too? The CBG helped train us and provided us with skills so we could have a job too and lead a proper life. Why isn’t it the same for them?” Kyungsoo questioned.

“We’re different, Kyungsoo,” Chanyeol stressed, “We were taken in when we were minors and the law clearly states for all parents with Gifted children to report them to the CBG so their lives can be properly managed out. Parents who chose not to do so are just making it hard for themselves and their own children, especially when they pass on and their Gifted children do not have the skills to survive because they cannot go to normal schools or have regular jobs,” Chanyeol clarified.

Chanyeol sighed, slamming his beer glass down on the table, which startled Kyungsoo a bit.

Chanyeol continued, “You’re worried about that Song Jihwan guy we arrested yesterday, aren’t you? Because he was almost the same age as you? Which is why you felt like you could relate to his turmoil? He is a bit too old for us to train but it’s still possible if he didn’t go and commit crimes. Now we have no choice but to lock him up since he broke the law. That’s why we even have a voluntary program for Gifteds whose parents never registered them, so they can go and report their selves instead. But it seems that people still want to believe that the CBG is just using us Gifteds to further separate us from everyone else.”

Kyungsoo lowered his voice, looking around to make sure no one was listening before asking, “-but it’s also the CBG who implemented all these laws to separate us Gifteds from other people. Because of them, we can’t have normal jobs, attend regular school, buy property or even get married without their approval. I lived as a ‘normal person’ for the first fourteen years of my life before my mother surrendered me, so I know how it was like. I understand that you have been with the CBG since birth so you don’t really know about it.”

“-and look where that brought you,” Chanyeol replied, pointing to the bar table, “You’re right here serving the CBG just like me.”

“But if we really want society to accept us, then shouldn’t Gifteds be treated equally and held up to the same standards as normal people are? Instead of further institutionalizing this difference between us and non-Gifteds?” Kyungsoo further questioned.

Chanyeol explained his view, “We are different, Kyungsoo. That’s why we need a separate set of laws to govern over us. Normal laws are for normal people. CBG laws are for Gifteds like us. I know those like you who enter the CBG at a later age tend to question things like these but trust me; this is actually for our own good. Before these laws were made and before the CBG existed, Gifteds like us were paraded around like objects to be laughed at and we didn’t even have the rights over ourselves. We were treated like slaves. This is for the greater good, Kyungsoo.”

“Yeah, I suppose that you’re right, ” Kyungsoo muttered, lowering his head and fiddling with the hem of his shirt under the bar table.

There was more Kyungsoo wished to say to Chanyeol actually. In fact, he could go on a possibly long and even endless debate with Chanyeol about this whole topic but Kyungsoo chose to drop it for now.

Firstly, they were in a public place and Kyungsoo didn’t want to risk anyone else overhearing them and wrongly thinking they were defying the CBG, who was also the reason they were clothed, fed and not treated like slaves by non-Gifteds.

Secondly, Kyungsoo may love Chanyeol with all his heart but it didn’t mean that he agreed with everything Chanyeol said, did or believed. But still, Kyungsoo tried his best to please Chanyeol even if it meant shutting up and withholding his silence.

The rest of their dinner was uneventful and the drive home was quiet, although this was something pretty normal for them.

Chanyeol and Kyungsoo were comfortable and knew each other well enough to just sit together in silence without having to do or say anything. Just the presence of one the other close to them was reassuring enough.

When Chanyeol pulled up in front of Kyungsoo’s apartment block, Chanyeol had offered to walk Kyungsoo all the way up to the door although he had turned it down.

“Here is fine, hyung,” Kyungsoo assured, unclasping his seatbelt and already holding the car door handle but not pulling it open yet.

“Sure. I’ll see you at work tomorrow then. Be safe and good night,” Chanyeol mentioned, tapping a finger on the steering wheel.

“Yeah, you have a good night too, hyung,” Kyungsoo reciprocated.

Kyungsoo hesitated, hand still on the door handle and in a sitting position where it seemed like he was ready to get up but not just yet. Maybe because he was hoping for something more than just well wishes and the obligatory “good night”.

But it was also Kyungsoo who snapped himself out of that moment and quickly left the car, closing the door properly shut before walking down the pathway between the curb and up to the apartment’s foyer.

Kyungsoo realized and knew well enough than to expect more out of Chanyeol. In fact, Kyungsoo thought that he might as well learn to accept that he and Chanyeol might never have the kind of relationship Kyungsoo was hoping for.

This was good enough, Kyungsoo thought, not wanting to be ungrateful either.

Meanwhile, Chanyeol remained in his idle car on the curb, waiting until he saw the lights turn on in Kyungsoo’s apartment before leaving, only after knowing that Kyungsoo had made it safely back inside.

**

Chanyeol and Kyungsoo’s next mission a few weeks later brought them to an opera house located in an exclusive district of Seoul, on the night of a sold-out show.

Recently, a few men had been found murdered in hotel rooms or in their own bedrooms, with all the blood vessels in their body ruptured despite no medical complications, no traces of drugs and their bodies being unharmed by even the smallest cut.

A female Gifted in her mid-thirties named Kim Minhee, who was also the opera house’s director was their prime suspect in the murder case they were pursuing due to her power, which was the ability to control blood and its vessels within the body of others.

Kim Minhee was the daughter of a rich and powerful conglomerate family with ties to the government. Although she was registered under the CBG, her family’s influence and wealth allowed her to live a relatively normal life, mostly by hiding the fact that she was a Gifted and her family making an exorbitant amount of “donations” towards the CBG in return.

Chanyeol, Kyungsoo and a lot of other Gifteds were well aware of that fact, regarding how certain Gifteds actually get to live rather “normal” lives thanks to money and power.

Chanyeol was just apathetic about the whole thing to even question the unfairness behind it, especially for someone who had been a pawn of the CBG since he was born on a cold November day almost thirty years ago. Chanyeol honestly didn’t know any better.

As for Kyungsoo, he was just starting to question all these things by holding onto the belief that it could be better.

Kim Minhee herself was actually unwelcoming to the presence of Chanyeol and Kyungsoo in her premises, especially since they were on official business.

However, knowing that it was in the best of her interests to at least suck up to the CBG, she quickly offered Chanyeol and Kyungsoo a private box in the opera house and hoped they wouldn’t stir up trouble for her.

Neither Chanyeol nor Kyungsoo was actually interested in the performance of La Boheme by the local troupe under the direction of Minhee.

They were solely there to investigate her and watch out for any anomalies or anything that caught their suspicion, regarding the case of the string of men murdered by having all their blood vessels suddenly burst in their body.

The private box Chanyeol and Kyungsoo were seated in had been dimmed down, so it was clearer to see the stage and performance down below. They were able to see the people in other boxes and down below in the crowd from their position.

The box was large enough to fit up to eight people but tonight, it was just them both.

Even if they were there for work, it was still the night of a sold-out opera show and they were required to dress formally for the event. Furthermore, wearing the CBG uniform in a public place managed by a woman who actually disliked being associated with such, Chanyeol and Kyungsoo obviously knew better.

Chanyeol had an array of suits to choose from and wear. Kyungsoo only had a single pair of suit to wear, which Chanyeol had also bought for him two years ago as a gift upon being formally employed by the CBG after graduation.

Kyungsoo was alternating between reading the setlist playbook and the show being performed down there on the stage.

The opera was already in the second act and Kyungsoo was actually proud of himself for being able to catch up to what was going on and the story it was trying to convey, even if it was being performed in the original French language which Kyungsoo didn’t understand.

It was his first time to an opera and even though he wasn’t a big fan of it, Kyungsoo was still nonetheless excited to experience something new.

Chanyeol, meanwhile, was rather stoic as he was seemingly watching the stage too with his legs crossed over the other.

Occasionally, Chanyeol was tapping a finger from his gloved hand on his leg, his eyes darting across the stage according to the movements of the actors.

Then, Chanyeol spoke up, “I don’t know if you’ve noticed yet but the door to our box has been locked from the outside for a while now.”

Kyungsoo immediately whipped his head to the side to look back at Chanyeol, his eyes growing wide in alarm.

“Putting us here was a distraction to keep us away from the investigation,” Chanyeol muttered. If it weren’t for Kyungsoo sitting rather close to him, Chanyeol’s voice would have been almost drowned out by the singing and the orchestra below.

“-but Kim Minhee is still busy backstage while the show is going on. Even if she is the killer, she won’t be able to do it now. All the murders occurred on a night when there is a show but only several hours after it is over,” Kyungsoo mentioned.

“I know,” Chanyeol affirmed, “-and even though the murdered men didn’t all attend the opera before their death, they were all rich and had affiliations with the upper class, who are mostly the same people who would be interested in stuff like these. I don’t know the motive of the murders yet but it’s probably something to do with funding a place like this or the likes of it. I have no doubt its Kim Minhee. Honestly, I thought she’d be better at making it less obvious.”

“Maybe she thought her family’s money would get her out of this?” Kyungsoo assumed.

“You might be right,” Chanyeol clicked his tongue, halting the tapping of his finger on his leg.

“So, are we going to go backstage and find her?” Kyungsoo murmured, almost whispering near Chanyeol’s face.

“If you can try opening the door with your ability without alerting anyone from the outside, we will do that,” Chanyeol looked behind over his shoulder to the locked door in the box.

“I bet they have someone on guard outside though,” Kyungsoo cautioned, already half lifting himself off the seat.

“Of course they do but we’ll do the usual. If they’re Gifted, I’ll take care of it. If not, you shall,” Chanyeol too got up from his seat, taking off his gloves and making sure his gun was still there under his coat.

“Alright,” Kyungsoo nodded, moving towards the door with Chanyeol.

With Kyungsoo’s telekinetic powers, he was able to unlock the door by simply turning the knob from the outside.

Chanyeol then quickly pushed the door open with his gun out, only to find a large burly guard who was also a Gifted and taller than him, waiting near the door.

It was easily dealt with in a matter of seconds though, with Chanyeol just slamming his palm into the guard’s face and Kyungsoo catching the guard with his ability to gently lower them onto the ground where the guard continued to be passed out on.

Then, Chanyeol and Kyungsoo quickly made their way out of the area and headed backstage while avoiding and confronting the other guards or people who were told to watch out for them.

As the opera progressed into the third act, the heroine in the story, Mimi, discovers her life-threatening illness and her love interest, Rodolfo, pretends to be unkind to her in hopes she will find another lover who can afford to take care of her.

While the emotional scene is being played out front on stage and the orchestra plays an equally sad tune to accompany it, Chanyeol and Kyungsoo burst into the backstage area where the actors all already in full costume are waiting for their turn to appear.

Chanyeol had his gun out and Kyungsoo was using his powers to restrain another guard by lifting them several meters up in the air.

It was either the gun or the fact that Kyungsoo had exposed them as Gifteds, which caused a commotion and panic among the actors and stagehands in the backstage area.

The noise from the commotion was even somewhat heard over the singing and orchestra, rousing some reactions and whispers from the people in the audience.

Normal people were very much afraid of Gifteds, after all. 

Kim Minhee, herself, stormed through the backstage area to calm down her troupe, as well as confront Chanyeol and Kyungsoo.

“What do you think you are doing!?” Minhee almost yelled, wearing a red dress and her neat brown hair in a bun gradually becoming undone because of her anger, “-I thought I recalled telling you two to just attend the show and keep it quiet. I don’t want any trouble on a sold-out night like this! This is an obstruction to my business!”

Kyungsoo was looking like he was about to apologize, feeling rather bad for the whole situation they had created. Especially when the non-Gifteds were looking upon at him with fear in their eyes, even if Kyungsoo would never imagine harming them even in his wildest dreams.

“Kim Minhee, you are under arrest for the suspicion of the murders of Jeong Seokhyun, Yoon Jongmin and Kim Doyoong,” Chanyeol calmly mentioned, still pointing his gun towards her.

“You can’t arrest me. You don’t even have enough evidence to charge me,” Minhee confidently retorted, trying to hide her agitation at her entire troupe on looking the entire incident.

“We are Gifteds, ma'am. The laws dictate that we are guilty until proven innocent. I will let the court decide your conviction. I am only here to take you in,” Chanyeol recited, reaching for a pair of handcuffs now.

With the mention of Minhee being a Gifted, the troupe of actors let out a collective gasp and began whispering to each other while glaring and pointing at her. It was evident that they were not aware of this fact beforehand.

Minhee noticed this and was obviously distressed to see their reaction. Hastily, she ordered them, “What are you waiting for? Go out on stage now! It’s your turn.”

Minhee was, however, largely ignored, leaving Kyungsoo feeling even worse for her. Even if she might be a murderer, Kyungsoo knew exactly how it felt to be in her shoes, to be disapproved by almost everyone for simply being born the way they were.

Chanyeol ignored all the stares and remarks being made at them as he handcuffed Minhee, who continued shouting at her troupe, who didn’t seem to want to listen to her anymore now that they knew she was a Gifted.

Out on the stage, one of the troupe members who were aware of a commotion backstage was quickly trying to act up an impromptu performance and filler, to hide the problem going on when the next set of performers were not coming up.

Even the orchestra conductor was also notified of this by a stagehand and quickly conducted the musicians to play a filler piece to buy some time.

The audience also began to grow agitated, sensing that something was wrong.

Chanyeol was standing and had pushed a handcuffed Minhee down to sit on the floor, while he placed a hand on her hair so she wasn’t able to use her ability as long as he touched her.

More backup from the CBG had been called for and they were already en route.

Kyungsoo was beginning to get anxious from the crowd of people who were judging them silently but yet also too timid to actually confront him because they were afraid of Gifteds. Even to an uninformed person, it wasn’t hard to sense the thick atmosphere and the tension going on there.

Kyungsoo thought he would have gotten used to this by now but it was just getting worse. His heartbeat began to race, his breathing was heavier and Kyungsoo wanted nothing more than for this to be over.

In fact, Kyungsoo even fantasized about just dropping everything and leaving the place so he didn’t have to deal with it. But of course, he knew that wouldn’t be able to do that.

Chanyeol, on the other hand, was as unbothered as being ridiculed was almost second nature to him. Maybe, having a cynical and pessimistic world view actually helped his case a lot when it came to dealing with other people- especially non-Gifteds.

In a slip due to his unsettled emotions, Kyungsoo lost control of his powers, which caused the guard he was holding up to be released from the telekinetic hold, stumbling down to the floor in a drop that was at least a meter long.

According to Chanyeol, this guard was a Gifted too, although his identity and abilities were unknown as he was presumably unregistered.

This guard who had a height and build similar to Kyungsoo also appeared around his age, was also the one accompanying and closest to Minhee when the arrest happened.

“Oh no,” Kyungsoo gasped when he realized what he had done.

Chanyeol was alerted by it and was on full precaution as he pressed down Minhee’s head, even more, grasping onto her hair to prevent her from using her abilities or getting away. He wasn’t able to move and assist Kyungsoo as that meant letting Minhee, their prime suspect go.

But before Kyungsoo could take any further action to his slip up, the pipes in the walls and ceiling overhead immediately burst above them because of the guard’s ability, which was to control the pressure and flow of any form of liquid.

The pipes suddenly bursting happened not only backstage but also outside on the stage and in the hall, causing an even bigger commotion and ruckus among the hundreds of audience who already knew something was up.

Kyungsoo was thrown away by some debris of cement and plaster caused by the bursting pipes.

Chanyeol lost Minhee in the confusion of the roof falling over them and being sprayed by muddy water since she also fought back against Chanyeol by pushing him off of herself.

Blinded by debris, dust, and water, Chanyeol was unable to see or even navigate his way around. All he could do was grip tightly onto his gun and rely on his ability to sense on the presence of other Gifteds within the vicinity while being pushed around by the other people trying to run out from there.

Thinking quick, Kyungsoo held up the flow of water with his ability, forming an invisible wall to dam up the water for as long as he could manage it.

For a while, Kyungsoo was able to see even through his glasses stained with droplets of water. What he saw was Chanyeol trying to pull Minhee back instead, not allowing her to run, while she relentlessly fought back against him in a physical fight.

Chanyeol was trying hard to pull onto and touch her, thus rendering her abilities useless because it could be deadly if they were allowed to use them.

His gun had slipped out of his hand during the commotion and had been washed away by some of the water.

“-hyung!” Kyungsoo yelled, seeing the guard reach for the gun on the floor.

Unable to do anything else while holding the water up, Kyungsoo had to let it go, sending down a torrential pour of water upon himself, Chanyeol, Minhee and also the guard.

But before that happened, Kyungsoo swore he heard Minhee yelling at the guard to run away and leave her.

Chanyeol and Minhee were washed out by the water, through the curtains and out onto the now ruined stage with a half-full crowd as not everyone had managed to run away yet.

Only Kyungsoo and the guard remained backstage as they were the only ones able to hold themselves up against the water pressure thanks to their ability.

But because the water had pushed away the curtains that barricaded the stage from the backstage, they were able to see everything happening out front.

Out in front on the stage, Minhee managed to wrestle herself away from Chanyeol’s hold and was now free to use her ability.

In her disheveled state with makeup running down her face, her hair all wet and messy, Minhee reached a hand out towards the guard who tried running towards her.

“Kyungsoo!” Chanyeol yelled, chasing after Minhee.

Kyungsoo also attempted to stop the guard with his ability but neither he nor Chanyeol was fast enough before Minhee was able to use her ability.

With it, she killed her own guard right in front of Chanyeol and Kyungsoo’s eyes, leaving them both stunned as their brains tried to process or understand what was going on.

The guard suffered stroke-like symptoms as blood poured out of every orifice in his body before collapsing to the ground.

Kyungsoo caught the guard but he died almost immediately in Kyungsoo’s arms.

Chanyeol managed to restrain Minhee this time as she seemingly stopped resisting against him too.

Backup from the CBG arrived at the same time, storming through the hall and rushing their way to the stage.

Not everyone had left the hall at the time and some of the musicians, actors, and audiences still left behind were all stunned with the expression of horror etched on their faces; having witnessed the brutal death of a Gifted at the hands of another.

In the two years, Kyungsoo had been a field agent, he had come across a few deaths but never one like this; where a Gifted killed their own ally, who had tried so hard to protect them.

Kyungsoo lifted up his palm, stained with the blood of the guard who was dead on his lap. He could only stare in shock, rendered in silence and unable to talk.

Kyungsoo lifted his head to look up at Chanyeol, who was unbuttoning his soaked coat and addressing the CBG agents who had just arrived.

Kyungsoo then looked to Minhee who was restrained and being sedated by the other agents before being taken in.

Kyungsoo also noticed the rest of the people being ushered out of the hall and the now crime scene. He could clearly remember the look of fear and disgust they had on their faces, recalling how cold they were even to Minhee, who had worked alongside them for so long, once they find out she was a Gifted.

While Kyungsoo was used to hearing of violence occurring between Gifteds and non-Gifteds, this was the first time he witnessed Gifteds going against each other, especially one right in front of his eyes and involving a death.

All these while, Kyungsoo had thought that the only ones against Gifteds were non-Gifteds. But he was proven wrong. Even Gifteds could go against each other when they were supposed to be on the same side of the coin.

And that fact hit him harder than everything else.


	3. What we deal with

Two days after the incident, Kyungsoo woke up with a bad headache, a runny nose, coughs and an uncomfortable feeling of pressure in his sinus.

Kyungsoo suspected it was the flu caused by the dirty water he had swallowed and almost drowned in during the incident at the opera house. The fact that he had to be in wet clothes for hours after that also contributed to it.

Kyungsoo called in sick to work that morning, raided his fridge for some flu medication Chanyeol had put there and then went back to bed.

Several hours later, Kyungsoo woke up in the afternoon only to find out that his cold had developed into a fever.

His body was heated up and almost sweaty under the blankets if it weren’t for the air-conditioning he didn’t remember turning on. The lights inside his apartment were turned off and the curtains drawn over the windows made the place seem dark too despite bright daylight outside.

Kyungsoo looked to his side and saw Chanyeol sitting there on a chair pulled up beside his bed. Chanyeol was scrolling through his tablet, dressed in just a plain white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and simple black trousers.

Chanyeol knew the passcode to Kyungsoo’s door and their relationship was on a level where they were free to come into each other’s places, so it wasn’t really a surprise for Kyungsoo to see Chanyeol there.

When off duty, Chanyeol never wore his gloves and had the freedom to roll the sleeves of his shirts. The only reason why he wore the gloves while on duty was because of other Gifteds complaining that he would accidentally and unconsciously reduce their ability even though the slightest accidental contact, especially for those who had or needed to keep their ability constantly active.

Kyungsoo never complained about it though and Chanyeol only felt comfortable enough around him to do so anyway.

“Good morning, hyung,” Kyungsoo greeted, groggy and still half-asleep.

“It’s 12.56 in the afternoon,” Chanyeol replied, putting his tablet away on the bedside table, where it joined the potted cactus and the picture of him and Kyungsoo together.

“Oh, good afternoon then,” Kyungsoo mentioned a bit weakly, shifting to a sitting position on the bed before asking, “Aren’t you supposed to be at work?”

“I am but I took the afternoon off when you called me this morning and said you were sick. I wanted to check up on you,” Chanyeol answered, leaning back against the chair, “-I bought some porridge and got you some over the counter medication. Let me know if you want to eat, I can heat it up for you.”

“I’m not so hungry yet…I think,” Kyungsoo guessed, looking down to his stomach as if to see whether it would rumble to tell him he was hungry.

“How do you feel?” Chanyeol continued to ask, leaning forward now as he put out a hand to touch Kyungsoo’s forehead with the back of his palm, commenting, “You feel warm. I think you might have a fever now.”

“Yeah, I might,” Kyungsoo supposed, not so sure of himself.

“You need to take your medication if you have a fever then. You need to eat first. You can’t take those medicines on an empty stomach,” Chanyeol suggested.

“I will do that. Don’t worry about me, hyung. I feel bad that you had to come all the way here for me when we still have to work on the aftermath of the Kim Minhee case,” Kyungsoo brought up.

“I think it’s better for you to take a break too. Don’t think about the case too much. We have other experienced operatives working on it before it’s taken to court to be dealt with,” Chanyeol advised, folding his arms over his chest, knowing how bothered Kyungsoo was after the whole incident.

It was quiet for a while, so quiet that the only sounds they could hear were the whirring of the air-conditioner, the slight hum of the fridge not very far from the bed and Kyungsoo grasping the bedsheets beneath his palm.

Chanyeol was looking on rather worriedly at Kyungsoo, whom he could tell was actually itching to say something with apparently something holding him back.

“-hyung,” Kyungsoo timidly spoke up, “-about the case…”

“What about it?” Chanyeol raised an eyebrow, glancing over at the screen of his tablet which lit up to inform him of an incoming notification.

“I still can’t believe that the guard Kim Minhee killed was actually responsible for the murders and she confessed to murdering him because she didn’t want him to be tried for the crimes. Do other Gifteds outside the CBG really see death as a better option than being incarcerated?” Kyungsoo questioned, “-if other Gifteds view the CBG and its laws negatively, then why do we still have to follow them as Gifteds ourselves?”

Chanyeol sighed, pushing his hair back, “I was wrong about Kim Minhee being the one responsible for the murders, yes. It was her guard all along and she knew about it and was defending him. She took him in when he was a minor and practically raised him. Minhee was like a mother to him and during the interrogation, she herself said that killing him was protecting him against us. But that’s only because she’s misguided and misinformed. We could have done a better job if he was turned in to the CBG many years ago. You’ve seen enough of what becomes of unregistered Gifteds. You should know that we are the better ‘option’.”

“But why are non-Gifteds making the law and deciding what is right and what is wrong for us?” Kyungsoo pointed out, “The CBG was created by non-Gifteds. Only now it is run and led by Gifteds. But still, Gifteds didn’t really have a say when it was formed and enacted. I understand that non-Gifteds can be allies but can they truly know what is best for us?”

Chanyeol stressed, “What are you blabbering about? You just saw a Gifted killing another that night. What makes you think that only non-Gifteds are against us? Our people are also evidently using each other. This is why we need these different laws the non-Gifteds made for us from a neutral standpoint.”

Kyungsoo was a bit stunned, still unable to understand Chanyeol’s view, “Why do you speak as if we are lower than them? As if we don’t have the capability to govern over our own? We can be greater than them. We’re called ‘gifted’ for a reason and they’re not.”

Chanyeol sighed even more, “Why do you only bother to question this now? Aren’t you a bit too old to go through your rebel phase? Haven’t we been over this topic before? What’s going on with you, Kyungsoo?”

Kyungsoo almost yelled back, before coughing again, “-because I want a normal life, maybe one where I’m free to love you if I want!”

Without even a pause between, Chanyeol quickly reacted, “There’s nothing stopping two Gifteds like us from loving or even marrying each other! I can do it now if you want to! Yes, the laws are different but it’s not impeding us. You can’t leave the CBG now if that’s what you’re thinking of. Do you think that we could just move together to a farm and live like normal people?”

“I never said anything about getting married, leaving the CBG or moving together to a farm,” Kyungsoo chimed in, “-hyung, was that a Freudian slip or what?”

Chanyeol’s eyes went wide in horror at the realization of what was indeed a slip of his subconscious feelings in the heat of the moment.

Chanyeol gulped, trying to hide his uneasiness in front of Kyungsoo. His voice dropped and he was speaking in a calmer tone, “Whatever it is, you mustn’t let anyone hear about this, especially about your thoughts and how have you been feeling regarding the CBG and laws for the Gifted. I don’t want you to get in trouble for this. This stays between us both.”

“-hyung…,” Kyungsoo trailed off, sniffing back some of the snot he could feel running down his nose. Kyungsoo was sure of what he heard coming from Chanyeol but he still found it hard to believe that Chanyeol had been subconsciously burying all those thoughts and feelings all these while.

“No buts, Kyungsoo,” Chanyeol was more stern this time, reminding Kyungsoo of the time when Chanyeol was being strict with him during training, “From today onwards, you are on leave. I shall inform the department about your absence. Get some rest and if it will do you good, stop thinking about work or our insignificant place in the order of the universe.”

“Hyung! Wait!” Kyungsoo reached out, grabbing Chanyeol by the hand as he was about to get up from the chair.

“Go to sleep, Kyungsoo. Get some rest,” Chanyeol advised, his voice a lot calmer as he held Kyungsoo’s hand which was clinging onto him, using his ability to knock Kyungsoo out into unconsciousness.

Chanyeol caught Kyungsoo when he passed out, lowering Kyungsoo’s feverish body back down onto the bed before covering him with the blanket. Chanyeol had also fluffed out the pillows for Kyungsoo to rest his head upon.

Before Chanyeol left, he made sure Kyungsoo had enough drinkable water and ready-made food in the fridge, which could easily be heated up for when he got hungry later.

Chanyeol plugged in Kyungsoo’s phone to the charger near the bedside table, leaving a glass of water there next to the potted cactus and a note to take his medicine on time. 

Chanyeol looked back at a calmly sleeping Kyungsoo before taking a sigh and shutting the door behind him when he left, thinking that maybe, he should go have a smoke.

**

When Kyungsoo woke up again, it was already nighttime and he had spent most of the day in bed, being rather unproductive for his standards.

Although his fever had gone down and his nose was less stuffy, he still had a headache on top of a sore throat that annoyed him to hell and back.

Angered at Chanyeol for just leaving him like that and being unable to do anything the entire day, Kyungsoo stormed out of his bed and stomped to the kitchen just beside the bed in his studio apartment.

For some reason, Kyungsoo felt like he just wasted a lot of time that could be used completing the case, which Chanyeol didn’t want him to do anyway. He was also angered at Chanyeol’s decision to just “leave him out” by asking him to go on leave, with Kyungsoo not even considering the fact that he was sick.

Kyungsoo popped an aspirin into his mouth before swallowing it down with a glass of filtered water, slamming the glass down onto the kitchen counter.

When he did so, there was a slight release of his telekinetic powers that levitated everything in his near surroundings by a mere few centimeters off the ground, before hitting the surface back again with a loud thud especially coming from the fridge.

It was nothing surprising to Kyungsoo or anyone who knew him well enough though. When he was angered or when his emotions were rather out of control, his abilities also went out of control, seemingly linked to his emotional state; which was not unheard of because emotions could play a large factor in whether a Gifted controlled their ability or if it controlled them in return.

It would take a little more for the aspirin to start working and relieve his headache.

Before that could happen, Kyungsoo was already stomping off back to the side of his bed where he almost violently ripped the charger cable from his phone, before taking several tries to enter his lockscreen passcode due to how unsettled his feelings were.

Once he finally managed to gain access to his own phone, Kyungsoo quickly dialed Chanyeol who was on his speed dial, putting the phone to his ear as he pranced around the 600 square feet apartment.

Kyungsoo attempted to call Chanyeol a total of three times, all of them left unanswered. Even more furious that Chanyeol was not answering his calls, Kyungsoo sent a text which read: “Where are you? Are you busy, hyung? Pick up my calls. We need to talk!”

Kyungsoo then sat at the edge of the bed, thumb on the phone screen to stop it from fading to black as he stared at it and waited for the “message read” receipts to appear on the text interface.

It never appeared though, at least within the ten to fifteen minutes Kyungsoo was waiting for it.

“Fuck it,” Kyungsoo cursed, lifting himself up from the bed and quickly heading to his closet, stripping himself of his house clothes before putting on a black band t-shirt, matching black jeans and a dark green jacket to go over the outfit.

Kyungsoo grabbed his phone and wallet before leaving the apartment in a hurry with his shoes not even fully laced up.

Kyungsoo had half the mind to grab a taxi and go to Chanyeol’s place but when he arrived at the curb by the road just outside his apartment block, he thought of somewhere else to go; where he could possibly relieve his stress and forget his anger about being “undermined” by Chanyeol.

Just maybe, Kyungsoo was mistaking Chanyeol’s protectiveness and concern for being overlooked and deemed incapable, especially with the way he acted and how he handled the aftermath of the Kim Minhee case.

If it was anything, Kyungsoo was probably just projecting and if there was a problem, it was most probably between Kyungsoo and himself.

Kyungsoo did take the taxi but not to Chanyeol’s place. Instead, Kyungsoo went to a popular district known for its vibrant nightlife and busy nightclubs

The only reason Kyungsoo knew about this is that a few of his co-workers at the CBG had been discussing it in the pantry and at one point had tried inviting Kyungsoo along with them, only for Kyungsoo to turn them down because had no idea what to do.

Chanyeol wasn’t much of a person who enjoyed going out too, so Kyungsoo almost had no exposure when it comes to things such as these. Although Kyungsoo did recall hearing Chanyeol say it was something he would rather not do unless he was forced to.

Somehow, Kyungsoo’s innate desire was not to actually experience clubbing like people his age did but more to rebel and piss Chanyeol off.

Kyungsoo had to pay a rather pricey entrance fee to get inside but because he was so intent on doing it, he let it slide and paid upfront, even when knowing how many bowls of noodles he could buy with the amount.

Truly, it was a new experience for Kyungsoo, from just the amount of money he needed to get inside to the things he saw, heard and felt the moment he was allowed through the thick soundproof doors.

Neon strobe lights in all colors were flashing within the club. Loud and fast club music was playing loudly, the bass pounding so hard until Kyungsoo could literally feel it reverberating in his body. A DJ was loudly speaking over the mic, hyping up the crowd even more.

People were all pressed up against each other, moving their bodies in almost every direction, leaving little space for Kyungsoo to walk or even from just avoiding another human being.

There was so much to take in and Kyungsoo almost felt like regretting his decision. He didn’t understand how people derived pleasure from things such as this.

Maybe it was because he was still fully sober and everyone else was drunk or high. Maybe it was because he was still a bit sick too.

Whatever it was though, Kyungsoo didn’t want to regret it and tried to immerse himself into the setting. It wasn’t every day he got to actually blend in and be in a crowd of people without feeling like a complete abomination just for being a Gifted. 

Kyungsoo just hoped no one found out though.

Kyungsoo managed to push his way through the crowd, avoiding the few people who actually approached him and invited him to the dance floor.

Although Kyungsoo appreciated the offer, he wasn’t down to be pressed up and grinding to loud music, against a total stranger who was probably inebriated. Kyungsoo sort of beat the purpose of why people even went to establishments such as these in the first place.

Clearly, he didn’t think through regarding his decision of going there in the first place, as he was too caught up in his emotions at the time.

Kyungsoo managed to find a rather empty spot at the end of the bar near the wall, sitting himself down on the stool to catch his breath.

When a bartender asked Kyungsoo for his order, he had no idea what to say and pointed to the first drink on the menu which was printed and stuck onto the bar.

Unbeknownst to Kyungsoo, he had just successfully ordered himself his first drink of a Moscow Mule, which was a cocktail consisting of vodka, spicy ginger beer and lime juice served with a wedge of lime. The cocktail was served in a copper mug, unlike most cocktails.

It was expensive and Kyungsoo paid for it out of pocket, only to gag and spit it back into the mug, right after taking the first sip.

Then, Kyungsoo spent a rather ample amount of time just staring at the mug of cocktail on the bar table, wondering how he was going to finish it because he didn’t want to waste the money he had already spent for the mug of Moscow Mule.

While Kyungsoo was still mentally daring himself to take another sip before he decided that he didn’t like it, his attention was diverted to someone touching him on the shoulder before taking the seat on the empty stool to his left.

Kyungsoo looked up to this newcomer’s direction to see a medium-framed man who was slightly above average height. He looked slightly older than Kyungsoo with medium-long hair that was dyed a dark grey or silver. Kyungsoo couldn't really tell too well under this lighting. 

He ordered a Moscow Mule too, although he most likely knew what the hell it was unlike Kyungsoo.

“I’m sorry, do I know you?” Kyungsoo asked this man, having to raise his voice higher than usual so he could be heard over the loud music.

“No, not yet at least,” This man replied with a smile on his face as he paid the bartender in cash.

“Oh, okay,” Kyungsoo replied, looking away and not wanting to seem like he was being rude or intrusive.

After this man’s drink was served, he began talking to Kyungsoo again, “You can call me Lay. What’s your name?”

“I’m…Kyungsoo,” Kyungsoo answered, wondering if he should have given his real name to Lay in the first place.

“I’ve never seen you here before. Are you new to the area?” Lay continued to ask in a light manner.

“I just don’t come here very often,” Kyungsoo responded, not lying but not telling too much either as it was better for someone like to him to not expose too much about himself.

“I see,” Lay nodded, taking a sip from his mug before turning back to Kyungsoo, “So what brings you here?”

Now, Kyungsoo had no idea if Lay was just being friendly or if he had ulterior motives. Whatever it was, Kyungsoo just feared being exposed especially in such a public place.

Although the club he was in had no rules to ban Gifteds from entering, he couldn’t say the same for the attendees who could be harboring anti-Gifted ideologies and would find it unpleasant knowing a Gifted was amidst them.

Not wanting to raise any suspicion either, Kyungsoo tried to act natural and answered Lay’s questions as much as he could.

“Well, I’m off from work and I thought of trying something new, which is why I came here,” Kyungsoo honestly answered.

“Oh,” Lay understood, and then eyeing Kyungsoo’s virtually untouched drink, “I guess you’re not lying.”

“Excuse me?” Kyungsoo was agitated by just that statement.

Lay chuckled and looked around to make sure no one was overhearing their conversation before he continued, “I know you’re a Gifted but don’t worry, I am too. I’ll keep it a secret between both of us.”

“W-What makes you think I’m a Gifted? How can you prove that?” Kyungsoo blurted out, defensively.

Lay pointed a finger to his temple, tapping the side of his head a few times, “I’m a mind reader, Kyungsoo. That’s my ability. Out of everyone here in the crowd, your thoughts about being scared at being outed was the one that stood out the most to me, which is why I approached you. I’m almost thirty years old. I know how it feels when you’re a young Gifted who just wants to go out and have fun but is scared at being exposed. I’ve been in your shoes but thankfully, my ability is discreet and not something that is visible to others.”

Kyungsoo remained stunned in silence, his mouth slightly hung open as he contemplated his next action. Suddenly, reaching for the mug of the cocktail he couldn’t bear to drink seemed more appealing as a distraction.

“Uh…I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Kyungsoo feigned ignorance, not wanting to admit being a Gifted too soon despite Lay’s claims.

Kyungsoo grabbed the handle of the mug and attempted to drink it, wincing and screwing his eyes shut as he forced the liquid down his throat.

Lay chuckled, resting his cheek on a perched palm, “You don’t have to be scared. I mean no harm. I’m not going to tell anybody.”

Kyungsoo continued shaking his head, already beginning to feel buzzed as he continued taking sips of the drink as a diversion from Lay.

Lay spoke, “You’re from the CBG aren’t you? You’ve been thinking about this other Gifted named Chanyeol too. You seem to have strong feelings, although conflicted, towards this Chanyeol guy.”

“God!” Kyungsoo responded, rather loudly but unheard to most because of the loud club setting, “Stop reading my thoughts.”

“I can’t help it,” Lay shrugged, “Sometimes it just happens involuntary and I can’t control it.”

Kyungsoo froze in his seat again, eyes going wide and round when he realized that Lay had found out about him being a Gifted, employed by the CBG and of Chanyeol.

Meanwhile, Lay was still smiling back at him rather warmly. Lay didn’t appear like someone who wanted to cause trouble but Kyungsoo could not prove that.

The alcohol had lower Kyungsoo’s inhibition and he was feeling a bit bolder to confront someone now. When he usually would have restrained himself and thought over the situation.

“Well then,” Kyungsoo sat up straight, puffing out his chest, “If you are a Gifted and you say I work for the CBG, I will need to see some papers. You should know that it is within my job scope to watch out for unregistered Gifteds and turn them in.”

“Oh, you won’t be able to get any from me,” Lay winked back at Kyungsoo before taking a sip of his drink, not even flinching or bothered by the burn of the alcohol.

“That’s brave of you to be walking around as an unregistered without any form of documentation but I guess considering your ability, it’s easy for you just slip by daily life pretending to be someone normal. It also helps if your family has money,” Kyungsoo recalled the Kim Minhee case and how other rich Gifteds managed to live outside the control of the CBG thanks to money.

“That’s right,” Lay agreed, “-but I am neither rich and from here. I don’t fall under the jurisdiction of the CBG.”

“That’s not possible-,” Kyungsoo was confused.

“I come from Changsha. It’s a city in the Hunan province in China. Maybe you’ve heard of it?” Lay raised an eyebrow, smiling a bit.

“Oh, I see,” Kyungsoo nodded, “You have another organization over there in China to regulate the Gifteds. Don’t you have to apply for special permission to leave the country though? Since you came here, we would have been informed of your presence too. How did you manage that without any papers?”

“You know,” Lay slammed down the copper mug back onto the bar, moving in closer until his face was merely a few inches from Kyungsoo’s, “You sure do talk a lot about rules and regulations when you have doubts about the CBG or your being there in the first place.”

Kyungsoo could only look back at Lay, almost horrified, stunned at the extent of how much Lay knew about him. If anyone from the CBG heard about this, Kyungsoo couldn’t imagine the repercussion he might face from it.

Before Kyungsoo could even think about what to say or do next, Lay got up from the barstool, about to leave even before finishing his drink.

“W-wait,” Kyungsoo tried to halt Lay to no avail, stretching an arm out to seemingly grab on air.

Lay only gave him a nod with a slight smile at the corner of his lips before making his way.

Kyungsoo confusedly stared at his mug, at the bar top, at the bartenders, and at the other club patrons until a switch turned on in his brain which left him scampering and pushing through the crowd again to chase after Lay.

Kyungsoo managed to follow Lay out through the back exit of the club, where there was also a bouncer guarding the door. It was easier to get out of the club than it was to get in though.

The back alley behind the club was clean and well lit, although mostly deserted save for a few people lingering here and there after clubbing.

Lay was ahead of Kyungsoo but still within a close enough range for him to sprint to catch up.

At the end of the alley where the pathway opened up to the main street, Lay looked over his shoulder and made a come hither motion with his finger, beckoning Kyungsoo to him.

Without waiting for Kyungsoo to catch up to him, Lay began walking at a moderately fast pace towards a certain destination, making his way through the streets and the people.

Kyungsoo continued following Lay simply because he had a hunch to just do so. Maybe it was also because Kyungsoo was slightly inebriated from the slight amount of alcohol he had.

Whatever it was, Kyungsoo didn’t even seem to realize that he had been following Lay down past several blocks and traffic stops now, before Lay walked past the gates into the grounds of an old four-story apartment building.

Kyungsoo stopped outside the gates, looking at the old and slightly unmaintained building huddled behind other shop lots and buildings.

Even under the street lighting and the minimal lighting that seeped through the windows of several occupied units, Kyungsoo could see the cracking painted exterior of the building which had been weathered down by age.

Kyungsoo saw Lay entering through the front door into the foyer before his figure disappeared from sight. Seeing this, Kyungsoo quickly jogged past the entrance, onto the overgrown lawn with junk piling on it before entering the building to chase after Lay.

In the similarly old and unmaintained foyer with poor lighting, Kyungsoo saw Lay calling out for him at the top of the staircase and pointing upwards.

They didn’t exchange words and Kyungsoo merely nodded as he took it as a message to follow Lay upstairs.

Kyungsoo followed Lay up to the third floor of the apartment and down a narrow but considerably cleaner corridor.

Lay stopped in front of one door and waited for Kyungsoo to catch up to him before knocking on it a few times. Kyungsoo stood

The door was soon opened to reveal a child about nine or ten years old, who squealed the moment she saw Lay before pulling him into a hug even though she could barely reach up to his height.

Lay didn’t seem to share many resemblances with the child, so it was hard for Kyungsoo to figure out if they were related from the first encounter.

Lay was similarly happy to see the child and conversed with her in Mandarin, hugging her back before switching to Korean and inviting Kyungsoo inside the apartment unit.

Despite having just met Lay less than two hours ago and still technically being strangers, Kyungsoo had followed Lay all the way back to what was presumably his house.

That itself was already out of character for Kyungsoo, which was why even Kyungsoo found it baffling as to why he easily agreed to just walk into a stranger’s house.

The interior of the apartment unit was cleaner and cozier compared to the building’s overall vibe. It appeared larger on the inside as it was really two separate apartment units with a wall knocked down in between the units to make a larger living space.

The apartment was rather homely and sort of reminded Kyungsoo of the one he too used to live in with his family, in better times before he was discovered to be a Gifted.

Kyungsoo had thought the child was alone in the house but she apparently was not. On the couch, Kyungsoo saw a high school-aged girl sitting and reading a book.

Watching the television while seated on the floor with a large plush bear on his lap was another child who was around the same age as the girl who greeted them at the door. Another boy around fourteen or fifteen years old was seen leaving a room and greeting Lay, glancing over at Kyungsoo momentarily.

Lay went to the kitchen to talk to someone and an adult woman around Kyungsoo’s age appeared, whom Lay promptly introduced to Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo bowed back to this woman who introduced herself as Soojung before she politely excused herself again to check up on something.

“Sit down,” Lay gestured, pulling out a chair for Kyungsoo at a dining table in the kitchen which could fit at least eight people at the same time.

“Okay,” Kyungsoo took the offer and sat himself down on the wooden chair with marks of what appeared to be drawings and scribbles presumably left by the children.

Lay opened up the fridge and then handed Kyungsoo a bottle of cold drinking water.

“Thanks,” Kyungsoo muttered, screwing the bottle cap open to take a drink, grateful for that because the alcohol from earlier was drying his throat out and beginning to give him a headache.

Lay sat sideways on a chair opposite from Kyungsoo, from where he could see Soojung and the other children.

“You have a…nice family,” Kyungsoo praised, still unsure as to what he was doing there in the first place, “I didn’t expect you’d be old enough to have teen-aged children though. Is your wife Korean?”

“Oh, I don’t,” Lay shook his head, “-and Soojung isn’t my wife. She’s my partner and a good friend I’d say. In total, there are six of us living here. None of us are related, actually. Yes, Soojung is Korean but the children and I aren’t. We all came from China.”

“Hmm?” Kyungsoo raised an eyebrow, a bit confused at the statement although he was already beginning to get a general guess of it, “Are all of you Gifteds?”

“The children and I are. Soojung isn’t,” Lay sighed a little turning to face Kyungsoo now, “We’re refugees, Kyungsoo. We are wanted back home in China so we fled here to escape that. Soojung was my contact in South Korea who was willing to help us out.”

“I’ve heard some news about the organization that regulates Gifteds in China, that they capture certain Gifteds with abilities they deem of to their interest so they can conduct experimentation on them,” Kyungsoo stated, “-but I don’t know how true that is. I just know about it because some Gifted rights activists have been trying to bring it up for ages but no action has been done.”

“You’re right,” Lay affirmed, “Here in South Korea, you have the CBG. Back in China, we have the Gifted Agency or GA for short. The girl you saw opening the door for us just now. Her name is Linlin. She has the ability to absorb energy from her surroundings and when the GA found out, they wanted to experiment on her to use her as a ‘battery’ to be used as an energy source. The girl on the couch is Xuanyi. She has abilities akin to a puppet master and she can fully control another living being to her will. I don’t have to tell you why the government would be interested in someone like her. The boy you saw leaving the room is Junyu. He has the power of near invincibility, flight, and levitation. They wanted to train him as a child super-soldier. And the young boy watching the TV just now is Yien. He has telekinetic powers, which is also considered valuable by the GA.”

Kyungsoo almost felt his heart stop at the mention of telekinetic powers. He wasn’t sure if Lay was reading his mind at the moment or if he already knew Kyungsoo had the same type of ability as the boy named Yien.

Whether Lay knew or not, just hearing that he shared an ability that would have him taken away and inhumanely experimented on was enough to send Kyungsoo almost into a panic. Maybe Chanyeol was right about the CBG being good for them.

Kyungsoo lowered his head, digging and scraping onto his nails under the table as he tried to hide the feeling of dread and fear rising within him. He didn’t want to show that to Lay and he really hoped his mind wasn’t being read at the moment.

Thankfully, Soojung came around and did a good job of unknowingly distracting Kyungsoo from his feelings.

“I know it’s late but we have some leftovers. Would you like to eat something before you go?” Soojung asked Kyungsoo with a warm smile on her face.

“Oh no, it’s alright. I’m not hungry but thank you for the offer,” Kyungsoo shook his head, politely declining the food even though he was actually beginning to feel hungry.

“Alright then. Let me know if you change your mind and I can pack some for you to take home,” Soojung replied to Kyungsoo before turning to Lay, “I’ll go tell the kids to clean up and sleep now. It’s already pretty late even for a Friday night.”

“Sure, I’ll help you in a bit,” Lay nodded back to Soojung.

Once again, Kyungsoo was left alone with Lay in the dining room, which was rather old-fashioned but cozy nonetheless. Lay stared up at a cross-stitch pattern hung on the wall while Kyungsoo tried to compose his thoughts.

Kyungsoo then spoke up again, “Why are you telling me all this? Why are you showing this to me? You do know I work for the CBG and it’s actually my job to apprehend Gifteds like you who are illegal immigrants to boot. What do you wish to achieve by bringing me here? Don’t you know that you risk being deported back to China and receive heavy consequences there for this?”

“Oh, I know,” Lay answered, “Soojung and I both work to support the children. Even the older children work part-time and risk getting caught just so we can live a normal life as much as possible. We’ve only managed to rescue four children but there are still so many back in China- maybe even hundreds- still being treated like lab rats and voided of their rights just for being Gifteds. This is much as I can do and I have come to realize that if I really wanted to make a big change, I would need more help and I’ve been trying to look for another powerful Gifted who might be able to sympathize with our situation. I am making a big risk by exposing myself like this to you but this is so you can truly understand the situation we are in.”

Kyungsoo gasped, taken aback by the reveal, “I still don’t understand why you chose me then? I do sympathize with you but I’m not sure how I can even help. I’m not that ‘powerful’ like you think I am. I can probably only help you to arrange to seek asylum with the CBG, but I cannot guarantee that they will extend their arms to help you. For all I know, they might deport you and the children back to China. I have no control over that.”

“I know that but I still had to take the chance. Even if you can’t do much about it, maybe you would know other people who could or have the necessary connections to help us. Since you don’t fully agree with the CBG ideology, I knew you were less likely to turn us in for just discovering,” Lay confessed with a hint of despair in his voice.

“I’m sorry,” Kyungsoo apologized, unable to look at Lay in the eye, “I’ll see what I can do but I cannot promise you anything. You may think I’m a powerful Gifted but I don’t really think I am. There are a lot of things outside of my control. I will try, though.”

“Thank you,” Lay smiled back, a bit forlornly, “We’re not asking for much either. Right now, all I want is protection for Soojung and the children, so they can live their life as normal and peaceful as possible.”

Kyungsoo nodded in understanding, although he wasn’t too certain of it himself.

Kyungsoo didn’t know what time it was when he finally left Lay’s apartment and began the long journey back home on foot, now that the subway and buses were no longer running at this time of the night.

Kyungsoo’s phone had also run out of battery sometime after he left the club and he wasn’t able to get a ride to take him home either.

Despite the quiet walk home, Kyungsoo didn’t even think much about the encounter he had with Lay and of what he had just learned about the refugee children. Kyungsoo wasn’t even sure if “Lay” was his real name and if what he told Kyungsoo was even real.

For the most part, Kyungsoo tried to block out all the thoughts and feelings he had regarding that. It was too much for Kyungsoo to put on his plate when he still had a lot of personal things he wanted to deal with beforehand.

This all seemed too big and grand on the order of things Kyungsoo thought he’d have to encounter. Hell, he was just a junior-level field agent of the CBG with just over two years of working experience under his belt.

Something like this was on a whole different pay grade above where Kyungsoo was at.

For all he knew, Lay could be running away from China with the children because they were involved with some crime or something else dangerous like murder. Kyungsoo didn’t want to make the mistake of aiding and harboring a wanted criminal in that case; although he wanted to give Lay, Soojung and the children the benefit of the doubt.

Kyungsoo did have to admit that it scared him, to know someone who shared a similar ability as he would have been void of basic rights and be subjected to torturous experimentation in a different country.

And maybe, Kyungsoo started believing a bit more of what Chanyeol said; about accepting the CBG and how it was the best choice for Gifteds.

When Kyungsoo finally arrived at the street his apartment block was on, it was a few minutes past three in the morning. Kyungsoo still didn’t know what time it was as he had no watch on him and his phone was dead.

But when he saw the familiar CBG-issued black sedan car that Chanyeol drove- parked outside on the curb, Kyungsoo knew he was somewhat fucked.

Upon seeing that, Kyungsoo broke out into a sprint and didn’t stop until he was inside his apartment building, up the stairs and hurriedly keying in the passcode to his door.

Moments after Kyungsoo had just entered the correct passcode, the door was instead opened by someone inside his apartment who was none other than Chanyeol, who was formally dressed in the suit and tie he usually wore to work.

“Uh…hi,” Kyungsoo winced a little, already bracing himself for the wrath of Chanyeol’s anger.

“Get inside,” Chanyeol instructed, almost gritting through his teeth and very obviously trying to stop himself from an outburst.

Kyungsoo nodded, quickly making his way inside and promptly removing his shoes at the entryway before storing them on a shoe rack nearby.

The entire time, Kyungsoo had his head lowered and didn’t even dare to look at Chanyeol in the eye or even in his direction.

Chanyeol shut the door back again and moved to sit on a chair behind Kyungsoo’s desk, which was beneath the only window in his apartment.

Kyungsoo could only pretend to fix the shoes on the rack for so long before he had to walk up to Chanyeol and face him.

“Where were you?” Chanyeol sighed, his back facing Kyungsoo as he was seated behind the desk.

“I-I couldn’t sleep so I went out for a walk,” Kyungsoo bluffed, not ready to tell Chanyeol that he had actually gone to a club and paid a lot of money for a drink he did not finish because he was pissed at the same person confronting him now.

“Then why didn’t you answer my calls?” Chanyeol interrogated, sighing even more as he pressed a hand to his face, “You missed call me so many times and sent me all those texts saying you wanted to talk. But yet, when I tried to call you back, you completely ignored me. Do you know what time it is?”

“I’m sorry,” Kyungsoo apologized, his toes squirming under the sock he wore, “I brought my phone with me but it ran out of battery and I only realized that after it had died.”

“Do you know how worried I was?” Chanyeol leaned back against the chair, raising his head a little, although his face was still obscured from view. Chanyeol really sounded tired as he spoke, “I had an important meeting with the directors so I couldn’t take your calls or read the text you sent me. You do know they like to have meetings at these insane hours. When the meeting was over, I tried to contact you and when I couldn’t, I thought something was wrong and I quickly rushed here. You don’t know how scared I was when I couldn’t find you here either. I was about to call people to find you if you didn’t come home within the hour.”

Chanyeol was quiet for a while and Kyungsoo was slightly grateful he wasn’t able to see Chanyeol’s face in their positions because he didn’t know how he would feel if he could.

“I’m sorry,” Kyungsoo apologized again with his shoulders slouched forward, truly remorseful, “I didn’t mean to scare you like that. I’ll be more careful next time and I won’t do it again.”

“It’s fine,” Chanyeol heaved, now holding his head up with his hands, “I shouldn’t have overreacted. You’re an adult. You’re free to go wherever you want and do whatever you want at any time. I’m sorry.”

Kyungsoo’s breath hitched. He was honestly surprised at Chanyeol apologizing to him. Although it wasn’t the first time Chanyeol had done so, it was certainly rare and maybe the first time Kyungsoo had heard it from Chanyeol in the past year or so.

Kyungsoo was honestly lost for words. This was not something he dealt with often to know what to do when it occurred.

Chanyeol looked over his shoulder towards Kyungsoo standing at least a good six feet behind him, “How are you feeling? Are you still unwell?”

“I’m good,” Kyungsoo assured, “I don’t feel so bad anymore but I don’t think I’m fully well either. It might be a few days until the cold and fever goes away.”

“I see,” Chanyeol noted, getting up from the chair and striding across the room to where Kyungsoo was standing. Chanyeol pressed the back of his palm to Kyungsoo’s forehead, “You don’t feel so hot to the touch like when I came to visit you in the afternoon. Still, be careful. The weather is good tonight but don’t go out if it’s too cold or too hot. I don’t want you getting sick again.”

“I’ll remember that,” Kyungsoo nodded, looking up at Chanyeol and seeing the worry planted on his face.

Chanyeol also reached to hold Kyungsoo’s hand between two of his. Chanyeol was larger than Kyungsoo and so were his hands, where Chanyeol only needed three of his fingers to hold the whole of Kyungsoo’s hand.

Chanyeol was just holding onto Kyungsoo’s hand to make sure he really wasn’t having a fever, wanting to feel how cold or warm they were.

But Kyungsoo could only remember that this was the same hand that had held him, led him, assured him and gave him a place to belong to.

When Kyungsoo remembered blurting out his confession towards Chanyeol that afternoon, he began to grow flustered and felt like hiding himself away from the rest of the world. Kyungsoo was certain it had really happened and that it wasn’t just a fever dream he had.

Chanyeol, however, had not brought it up since then and his demeanor towards Kyungsoo was the same as ever. Which did led Kyungsoo to somewhat theorize that it could have been a fever dream, after all.

Standing in the middle of Kyungsoo’s cramped but tidy apartment, Chanyeol still held Kyungsoo’s hand in one of his when a text notification sound dinged from the phone in his pocket.

Without letting Kyungsoo’s hand go, Chanyeol used his free hand to reach into his pocket for his phone.

Chanyeol read and replied to the text with one hand, all the while holding Kyungsoo’s hand in the other.

“Is it work? Do you have to go back?” Kyungsoo asked, looking up at Chanyeol’s tired face with eyes that were sleepy and heavy.

“Yes and no. It is work-related but I’m free now,” Chanyeol replied, putting the phone back in his pocket, tugging onto Kyungsoo’s hand to bring it closer to his person.

“I guess that’s life when you’re a senior field agent, isn’t it? You have to have meetings with the directors and for some reason, they like to hold it at these kinds of hours,” Kyungsoo mentioned.

“Indeed,” Chanyeol agreed, closing his eyes for a moment and feeling ever more exhausted, “You do know one of our directors, Byun Baekhyun’s ability is like that of a vampire and he literally is a nocturnal person because of that.”

“I’m not looking forward to becoming a senior level agent like you, hyung,” Kyungsoo chuckled, “I still have to get past my current junior level and then upper junior, middle and then upper middle before I get to where you are now. I don’t think I could do it as fast as you did so it’ll take me a while before then.”

“You never know,” Chanyeol smiled, half-asleep while standing, “If they like you enough, you could probably do it all in ten years as I did.”

“I think you should spend the night here, hyung,” Kyungsoo suggested, holding Chanyeol up by the shoulder when he saw the older man almost swaying from fatigue.

“Ah, yes,” Chanyeol finally released Kyungsoo’s hand to rub his own eyes and step aside to take off his coat and tie, which he then hung on the back of Kyungsoo’s chair as he asked, “Do you still have the sleeping bag I used when I slept over at your place a few months ago? Can you set it out for me? I’ll stay here for the night. I’m too tired to drive back home.”

“Yeah, I do,” Kyungsoo recalled, looking into a small closet in the wall near his door, which he used as a storage space.

While Chanyeol was using the bathroom, Kyungsoo set out the sleeping bag on the floor beside his bed, also taking out a spare pillow and blanket to use.

Chanyeol later emerged from the bathroom, no longer wearing a belt with his trousers and with the first rows of buttons on his white dress shirt undone. He had washed his face before bed but he was still nonetheless tired.

“-hyung? Do you want to sleep on the bed? I can take the sleeping bag tonight,” Kyungsoo suggested.

“Of course not. I’m the guest so I’ll sleep on the floor,” Chanyeol responded, already moving to where the sleeping bag was on the floor beside Kyungsoo’s bed.

“Alright,” Kyungsoo didn’t debate it further, turning off the lights and crawling under the blankets on his bed, looking below to see Chanyeol lying down in the sleeping bag and looking up at the ceiling.

“If you didn’t move out from my place and continued living with me, you’d have a bed big enough for two people,” Chanyeol pointed out, “-but all you have here is a small bed and one of us has to sleep on the floor.”

“But you said you were fine sleeping on the floor just now,” Kyungsoo began to worry, “-and besides, I have my own room there and we don’t share the same bed anyway.”

“I’m joking,” Chanyeol chuckled softly, “I’m just trying to give you a reason to maybe consider moving in back with me. I know you want to be independent and everything. I respect that but maybe I just have empty nest syndrome you can say.”

“Hmm…,” Kyungsoo pondered the thought for a while, laying down and simply staring up at his dark ceiling as his eyes were getting adjusted to the dark and beginning to see figures and shapes a bit clearly now in the minimal lighting.

“Well, think about it. You’re always welcome back if you want,” Chanyeol said once more before turning over to lie down on his side and going to sleep, “Good night, Kyungsoo.”

“Good night, hyung,” Kyungsoo replied, looking down at Chanyeol’s figure before returning his gaze up towards the ceiling.

Kyungsoo had a bit of difficulty going to sleep that night, especially when he had slept the rest of the morning away.

Lying down in the dark and silence with nothing to do gave Kyungsoo a lot of time to think about the encounter he had with Lay and his predicament, as Kyungsoo tried thinking on plans and what to do next now that he knew about it. 

It probably took Kyungsoo almost two hours before he was able to fall asleep again, while it was still dark outside.

But when he did, Kyungsoo didn’t really sleep well.


	4. What we hide

Over the next few weeks, Kyungsoo dropped by at least four times to the apartment where Lay and Soojung lived in with the Gifted children.

Kyungsoo never stayed for more than half an hour and he only visited during the wee hours of the late-night or early morning, when the sun was down and people were mostly asleep or when Lay and Soojung were out at work.

Sometimes though, the children were still awake when Kyungsoo came around and they would invite him inside for a drink. Kyungsoo didn’t have the heart to turn them down and ended up staying for half an hour before making up an excuse to leave.

Lay worked several odd jobs while Soojung worked double jobs at a hotel and in a convenience store to support the children. Until Lay met Kyungsoo, he had also seemed to be looking for the right person to tell about their condition in hopes that it would get them assistance.

Kyungsoo’s purpose of dropping by was only to drop off some groceries or hygiene items which he bought from a convenience store to be donated to the children mostly, hoping it would help a bit with the expenses.

This was as much as he could do for them in the meantime.

Kyungsoo could not promise them security or that they would be taken in by the CBG, like he was, if he decided to turn them in like Lay was hinting at. Although the children had a likelier chance of being taken in, Kyungsoo could not guarantee that because they were foreigners who were also allegedly wanted fugitives by their own country.

But his thoughts did stray to a certain someone who could potentially be qualified enough to deal with such and that was Chanyeol.

There was a problem though, which was how to approach Chanyeol on the subject. Knowing how strict and strait-laced Chanyeol could get on the subject of the law especially when concerning Gifteds,

Sometime in August, about a month since Kyungsoo first met Lay and found out about the Gifted children, Chanyeol was due for his thrice-yearly shooting practice.

As someone who was licensed with firearms, Chanyeol had to undergo practice at the CBG’s academy once every four months if he wished to continue being qualified to carry and utilize firearms.

Kyungsoo was honestly terrified of firearms and did not wish to wield one. Furthermore, he didn’t see the need to even for self-defense because of his ability. Firearms were usually more suited to Gifteds with abilities like Chanyeol.

While Chanyeol was down at the shooting range in the basement floor of the academy, attempting the course evaluation for him to keep his license, Kyungsoo was waiting in the cafeteria with a packet of chips and a juice box.

The shooting range had a designated waiting area but it was loud and Kyungsoo did not appreciate feeling on edge constantly at the sounds of the gunshots roaring as they were fired. 

It was much better here at the cafeteria and Kyungsoo never had any reasons to be afraid when inside a CBG building, because he knew it was a safe space for Gifteds like him.

For a few weeks now, Kyungsoo had been debating on how to bring up the topic of Lay and the Gifted children to Chanyeol.

Kyungsoo thought that he would have figured how to now but he clearly hadn’t. To know that the dangers the children would face if discovered would rise as time passed, scared Kyungsoo even more.

This was a huge responsibility and Kyungsoo absolutely felt like he wasn’t equipped enough to deal with it. But yet he still felt guilty with the burden of his knowledge and inaction.

Even more so when he was reminded of the young boy named Yien, who had powers of telekinesis just like Kyungsoo did. Kyungsoo assumed that he could have been in Yien’s position and he wasn’t able to imagine how he would even deal with it, should he never have met Chanyeol.

Maybe, Kyungsoo began to realize that he relied a little too much on Chanyeol.

Before Kyungsoo could further stress about it alone at the cafeteria table, he was spotted by Junmyeon, the head of the field agents division and Minseok, the deputy of the field agents division where Kyungsoo and Chanyeol both served in.

Junmyeon had the ability to control the weather over a certain area and Minseok had the ability of acute vision where he could spot an enemy from miles away and pinpoint their exact location.

Minseok himself was licensed as a sniper by the CBG and also happened to be there for his firearm license course evaluation, with Junmyeon accompanying him as his partner.

Seeing Kyungsoo sitting alone there, they walked up to him and joined Kyungsoo briefly at the table to talk about work and life.

Kyungsoo merely made small talk with them to keep a conversation going, hoping Chanyeol would be done and show up at any moment.

Junmyeon and Minseok were one and two ranks above Chanyeol respectively within their division. Therefore, it certainly did cross Kyungsoo’s mind to maybe ask Junmyeon and Minseok for advice and help regarding the Gifted children living with Lay.

Certainly, they would be able to help but Kyungsoo couldn’t tell if they would take in the children or have them deported back to China in order to maintain bilateral relations between their two countries, which had been rocky in the past few years due to conflicts between the non-Gifteds running the country.

If anything, this seemed like a good opportunity for Kyungsoo to finally speak up about it. Even if it would bring more harm than good, at least Kyungsoo could finally be free from the burden and responsibility he certainly didn’t ask for.

However, time flew by and by the time Chanyeol had finished his evaluation course and Junmyeon and Minseok excused themselves to go back to work; Kyungsoo still didn’t know what exactly he should do about the whole dilemma.

Chanyeol drove Kyungsoo home that evening and he was quiet throughout the entire ride, with his face turned towards the window as he watched the cityscape in the evening under the heavy rain.

Chanyeol noticed Kyungsoo’s rather gloomy mood too and while they were still stuck in traffic made worse by the rain, Chanyeol asked, “It’s a bit cold today for August, isn’t it? Does it make you feel hungry?”

“A little,” Kyungsoo admitted, looking over at Chanyeol in the idle car with the rain pattering on the windshield and the wipers whirring left to right.

“Do you want to stop somewhere and eat before I send you home? With this traffic, it might be a while till we get there so we might as well have dinner first,” Chanyeol suggested.

“Okay,” Kyungsoo accepted the offer, tugging onto the seat belt pressed against his chest.

Without being asked to and despite being in summer, Chanyeol turned on the car heater, knowing that Kyungsoo used to go cold and hungry a lot while growing up; hence why Kyungsoo was conditioned to feel hungry whenever he was cold.

Kyungsoo saw Chanyeol do this and he didn’t need to be a mind reader himself to know why Chanyeol did so. It was for him, obviously.

Chanyeol could be a bit too rigid and reserved at times but he was thoughtful and watched out for Kyungsoo a lot, which was why Kyungsoo found it a bit impossible to not fall in love with Chanyeol.

“I could use a smoke now,” Chanyeol grunted, two hands holding the steering wheel rather tensely as they had barely moved an inch in the heavy traffic.

Kyungsoo chuckled a little, “Maybe you could call Junmyeon-hyung and have him stop the rain here. I think it should clear traffic up a bit.”

Chanyeol laughed along, “That would be nice, isn’t it? Too bad he’s not actually authorized to do that because the government doesn’t like it when we Gifteds tamper around with nature or the order of things.”

“At least we still get to go out and do normal stuff among most people,” Kyungsoo sighed, looking out through the window with the rain droplets running down the glass.

The comment from Kyungsoo left Chanyeol feeling a bit curious but he did not question it.

Whatever it was, Chanyeol only wanted the best and to protect Kyungsoo against the dangers he knew of which Kyungsoo didn’t. Which was why Kyungsoo thought it was best to keep mum about it for the time being, even if he felt like it was something that needed to be addressed.

Chanyeol knew too much and maybe Kyungsoo knew too little.

Over the next few weeks, Kyungsoo still continued dropping by Lay’s place at ungodly hours of the night to deliver them groceries or anything else they might need.

Sometimes, some of the children or even Lay or Soojung was still awake and they’d invite him inside for a drink, before Kyungsoo bolted out of the door, excusing his departure as soon as he came.

Kyungsoo also began to see less of Chanyeol over those few weeks.

Chanyeol was often sent away out of town on job assignments that were apparently above Kyungsoo’s pay grade, that being the reason why Kyungsoo wasn’t able to go along.

Even when Chanyeol was around, he would be sleeping during the day after a long night meeting with the directors and head of departments of the CBG, who were all at least a minimum of two ranks above Chanyeol.

There were other senior-level field agents in the department like Chanyeol but it appeared that he was the only one who was called to all the director and head of department’s meetings despite not being any of that.

Then again, it had always been like this in the six years Kyungsoo had known Chanyeol, so it wasn’t something odd for him.

Therefore, Kyungsoo now found himself alone at his desk in the corner of the office room he shared with Chanyeol. Kyungsoo was honestly used to this since the time when they were living together as Chanyeol was often sent out on jobs alone.

At least now, it was just an empty office instead of an empty apartment when Chanyeol was away.

Chanyeol’s desk which was beside Kyungsoo’s had been empty for four days in a row now. Chanyeol’s spare uniform jacket was hung on the back of his chair and had been untouched since then.

There wasn’t much to do without Chanyeol around but Kyungsoo still wanted to do something and had a fellow junior level field agent, Sehun, keeping him company.

Sehun’s partner, Jongin, was away on a separate mission, leaving him behind much like how Chanyeol left Kyungsoo.

Sehun’s ability was to generate force fields that could be manipulated and utilized as shields or even enclosures to restrain a target. And he was using that ability now to pick up random objects such as pens and sticky notepads on Kyungsoo’s desk out of boredom, encaging the items in force field cubes which he levitated between his palms.

Kyungsoo sighed, looking up from his computer when Sehun was now messing around with his stapler, “Make sure to put it back.”

“I will,” Sehun was amused at his own antics, twirling the stapler within the force field cube, “I wouldn’t even bother doing my work if my partner wasn’t around. You should just ditch and come with me to the arcade that just opened at the mall.”

“I would but what if there’s a mission that needs urgent attention and we’re away slacking in an arcade?” Kyungsoo hypothesized as he attempted to use his telekinetic powers to pull the stapler back from Sehun’s force field.

“As if,” Sehun scoffed, strengthening his force field cube to fight against Kyungsoo, “They’d go ask the higher-level agents before they decide to call us. Without our senior-level partners, we’re basically paper pushers.”

Kyungsoo grunted, bemoaning as he slapped his hand to his face when he failed to pull back his stapler from Sehun’s force field cube.

It probably would have been possible if Chanyeol was there to give him a boost to Kyungsoo’s ability, which he was not.

Sehun laughed at Kyungsoo’s futile attempt and before he could tease Kyungsoo any further, the office phone rang and Kyungsoo promptly picked it up.

The phone call was brief but Kyungsoo understood what it was meant for in less than half a minute. Even Sehun who was merely observing and hearing Kyungsoo answer back to the caller in a formal tone knew that they were about to be sent in for some official business. And that it was probably urgent if even lower-ranked agents like them needed to be dispatched when there were people higher up in the chain of command to handle it.

“What’s new?” Sehun asked, finally putting the stapler back down on Kyungsoo’s table.

Kyungsoo promptly answered, standing up from his chair, “The prime minister’s daughter was at a soccer game with her school team today at a stadium. But some Gifteds are holding the daughter and her team hostage until their demands are met. Almost all the CBG agents in Seoul are being deployed there now and we have to go too.”

Sehun sighed, shaking his head, “Not another Gifted causing problems. Don’t they know how it’ll affect us and our image?”

Kyungsoo could only shrug.

Sehun and Kyungsoo arrived about half an hour later, having traveled in a car together with the other field agents who were being deployed to the scene.

By the time they arrived, it was past three in the afternoon and the hostage situation had been going on for over an hour since the hostage-taker had called the prime minister’s office to make their demands and intention known.

Outside the stadium, police officers and CBG agents alike were guarding the perimeter with numerous vans and vehicles parked outside to take part in the operative force to rescue the hostages.

Both Sehun and Kyungsoo flashed their IDs and were allowed inside beyond the barricade that was set up to cordon the area from outsiders which consisted of a growing group of spectators, worried family members and even journalists trying to get in on the news.

A temporary command center had also been set up in one of the CBG’s vans, where Kyungsoo found Junmyeon hurriedly giving orders through a walkie talkie and Minseok catching up to brief them on the situation.

Minseok explained as he pointed to a computer screen, “So, the prime minister’s sixteen-year-old daughter, Lee Jihyun, is being held hostage together with ten other girls her age and their soccer coach. We’re trying to identify the other girls and their coach as we speak. Their families are coming up one by one but it’ll be a while before that. Anyway, we have information that they are being held in the stadium’s broadcasting room by a Gifted we identified as Zhang Yixing. He’s a Chinese immigrant who came here on a work visa a few years ago. He was supposedly a non-Gifted but his demands are that for the CBG to take in and ensure the welfare of some Gifteds he listed, in exchange for the return of the hostages. So we have reasons to believe and treat him as a Gifted.”

The moment Kyungsoo heard about a Chinese immigrant, a supposed Gifted who was mistaken for a non-Gifted and what this Yixing guy supposedly wanted; Kyungsoo could not help but think of Lay and the Gifted children. 

Kyungsoo’s suspicion was even more confirmed when Minseok showed a blurry image captured by a drone that flew over the stadium, which managed to take a picture of the said Zhang Yixing through the glass of the stadium’s broadcasting room.

It was undoubtedly Lay. Kyungsoo was horrified, to say the least, but he couldn’t show that. He couldn’t show that he personally knew who Lay or rather Yixing was. He couldn’t let the CBG and his superiors know, especially now that Lay had decided to use radical methods to get what he wanted.

Kyungsoo felt partially guilty and at fault for what was happening. And he would be damned if his indecisiveness would cost the lives of innocent people.

He never expected Lay would actually push things this far.

“Chanyeol just came back and we’ve already sent him in to negotiate with Zhang Yixing,” Minseok informed, “-but no one else is allowed in the stadium since there are a few powerful Gifteds guarding the entrance. They appear to be children though and we believe these are the ones Yixing was talking about. We were given three hours before Yixing threatens to kill the hostages one by one.”

“You sent Chanyeol hyung in alone!” Kyungsoo exclaimed, almost jumping onto Minseok if it weren’t for Sehun holding him back.

“We know you’re worried because you’re usually the one who fights but he’s our best man when it comes to this,” Minseok reasoned, “We’d send you in with him but none of us can get past into the stadium. Yixing only agreed for one negotiator with a non-offensive ability to enter unarmed. We’re still coming up with a plan.”

“If we could get Minseok high enough in a helicopter, we could take out Yixing via sniper shot,” Junmyeon added, “But they have a Gifted with the ability of flight it seems and they have the airspace surrounding them secured.”

“Let me speak to Chanyeol!” Kyungsoo demanded.

“You can’t. Chanyeol was not allowed to bring any communication devices inside. He will come out soon to bring us the progress on the negotiation so don’t worry,” Junmyeon then instructed, “Get to your posts outside and guard the perimeter for any suspicious activity now.”

Kyungsoo would have argued and talked back to his superiors, Minseok and Junmyeon if it weren’t for Sehun who pacified him and dragged Kyungsoo out of the van and towards their assigned posts at the stadium parking lots.

The skies started turning grey and darker once they Sehun and Kyungsoo were at their posts. It also began to grow windier, signifying an incoming storm heading their way. 

Kyungsoo had been restless the entire ten minutes they had been guarding the parking lot entrance with some regular policeman. Because the situation involved both Gifteds and non-Gifteds, the CBG and police force had to work together.

Seeing the weather already starting to change all of a sudden when it was sunny earlier, Kyungsoo didn’t just suspect but knew that something big was already planned. This was obviously Junmyeon using his ability to change the weather, having been approved to do so by someone in a higher rank.

The reason why he and Sehun weren’t informed of it was because of their lower ranks and that the message was only relayed to the higher ranks due to the sensitivity of it.

Even this was normal in the CBG but Kyungsoo disliked how it made him feel when it involved Chanyeol, whose safety he couldn’t even guarantee at this very moment.

Kyungsoo could care shit about what the higher-ups in the CBG were trying to hide but he absolutely cared a lot for Chanyeol.

Without even wasting a second further, Kyungsoo ripped off his earpiece and communication device so he wouldn’t be overheard by the command center.

He then turned to Sehun and tugged onto the latter’s blue uniform jacket before pulling off Sehun’s communication device and earpiece too, “Sehun, I need you to help me get inside the stadium.”

“What!?” Sehun blurted out, looking behind over their shoulders to make sure the policeman nearby wasn’t overhearing them.

“Please,” Kyungsoo pleaded, fisting the material of Sehun’s uniform in his hold, “I just need you to make those cube force field things and lift me high up enough in the air for me to boost myself and jump into the stadium through the open roof. I know it’s hard for you to push a force field up so high but even just a few meters are enough for me to get a good footing so I can use my ability.”

Sehun gasped, “I don’t want to get in trouble for this. You know nobody except Chanyeol is allowed in the stadium or the Chinese guy will start killing the hostages.”

“You won’t,” Kyungsoo assured, even if he didn’t know he could really promise that, “I’ll make sure you won’t get in trouble for this and trust me, no one is going to die.”

“How can you be so sure of that?” Sehun was still tense.

“Just trust me. Let’s say I have a connection,” Kyungsoo said as he took off his own uniform jacket and threw it to Sehun, “I can handle this.”

Sehun took in a deep breath and closed his eyes in thought. He wasn’t too entirely convinced but Kyungsoo was so adamant and he sort of felt a hunch in his gut to go along with what Kyungsoo said.

“Fine,” Sehun sighed, “I’m only doing this because I don’t want to regret anything later on if what you said is true. But please, don’t let anyone die.”

“I won’t,” Kyungsoo remarked firmly, looking right in Sehun’s eyes.

Sehun sighed again before they pretended to leave their positions to patrol the area.

At a more secluded spot away from the prying eye of the other CBG agents, police officers or the public spectators; Sehun quickly formed a large enough horizontal force field for Kyungsoo to stand on before Sehun lifted it several meters up in the air as high as much he was able to.

When Kyungsoo saw Sehun was straining and beginning to tire out, Kyungsoo gave a thumbs up and jumped off Sehun’s force field before using his own telekinetic ability to launch himself up higher in the jump until he was above the stadium’s roof.

Then, using his ability too, Kyungsoo guided his landing trajectory onto somewhere on the stadium’s grass field as it already began to rain.

Once Kyungsoo landed on the field in the center of the stadium in a crouching position, he quickly stood back up straight to find Junyu, the Gifted teenager with the ability of flight and invincibility staring back at him under the rain.

Junyu was alerted of someone hurling into the stadium and as it was his duty to check up on it, he approached the person, only to find out that it was Kyungsoo; their benefactor over the past two months or so.

“Kyungsoo hyung?” Junyu mentioned, puzzled to see Kyungsoo there.

“Junyu!” Kyungsoo exclaimed, “What are you doing here?”

“Lay hyung told me to watch out if the CBG would send in some people through aerial methods. Aren’t you with the CBG, hyung? What are you doing here? Did they send you?” Junyu answered rather monotonously, his voice being drowned out by the rain falling onto them.

Kyungsoo was surprised to hear, “No, I wasn’t sent in here. I came in here on my own accord to look for my friend. Where are the others? Are they here with you too?”

Junyu nodded, “Yes, we’re all here except Soojung noona. She doesn’t know what’s going on because Lay hyung won’t tell her.”

Kyungsoo was even more astonished to know that Yixing had really involved the children in his plan. He looked up at the stadium’s broadcast room visible from the center of the field, although he wasn’t able to see anything that went on inside because of the black tinted glass windows.

“Is Lay hyung still in the broadcast room?” Kyungsoo questioned, putting a hand on Junyu’s shoulder, “A CBG agent was sent in here earlier to negotiate. He is my friend. Do you know where he is?”

Junyu nodded, looking away from Kyungsoo, “Your friend went to meet Lay hyung but I don’t know where he is now. I think they are still in the broadcast room with the hostages.”

“Okay,” Kyungsoo asserted, “I will go find them now. Try to stay out of sight, alright? It’s dangerous out here.”

Junyu nodded back, muttering, “I’ll try.”

Kyungsoo left Junyu and dashed across the field, onto the audience seats and continued upwards to get into the broadcast room while drenched from head to toe from the rain.

Unbeknownst to Kyungsoo, the moment he was inside the stadium interior building and out of sight, a sniper shot was fired onto Junyu who was slow in leaving the center of the field.

Minseok had taken the shot from the roof of an office building over a kilometer from the building. The building was under clear skies as the storm was only centered within a certain radius over the stadium.

Due to Minseok’s ability, he was able to take the shot from such a distance despite the poor visibility over the target.

Minseok, of course, saw Kyungsoo there in the center of the field with Junyu. While Minseok didn’t expect Kyungsoo to break the rules and charge into the stadium unauthorized, it was thanks to Kyungsoo distracting Junyu which allowed Minseok to take the kill shot.

Junyu died immediately on the grass of the stadium’s field, with half of his skull and brain blown to bits due to the impact of the bullet.

Kyungsoo ran through the stadium and up to several more stairs until he arrived in front of the door of the broadcast room that was being guarded by Linlin, the nine-year-old girl with the ability to absorb and manipulate energy.

Linlin also recognized Kyungsoo but he was still a bit too surprised to find a child as young as her being involved in such a dangerous situation.

Linlin seemed shaken herself and was partially relieved to see someone she recognized.

“Oh my god, Linlin,” Kyungsoo gasped, “You have to get out of here. Go hide somewhere. It’s dangerous.”

“But I was told to guard this door and not let anyone in,” Linlin trembled, pressing herself to the wall.

“You have to let me in so I can see Lay, okay? I will talk to him and fix all of this,” Kyungsoo tried to assure the young girl as much as calmly as possible.

Linlin continued shaking her head, “No, I was to not let anyone in absolutely or else people will die.”

“Nobody’s going to die. It’ll all be alright,” Kyungsoo continued to reassure, slowly approaching Linlin and patting her on the head.

Linlin still refused, shaking her head and cowering.

“Okay then,” Kyungsoo tried to suggest, “How about you open the door and tell Lay hyung that I came here. Maybe he’ll want to talk to me. Is that alright?”

This time, Linlin nodded, “I’ll go ask first.”

“Thank you,” Kyungsoo sighed in relief, already balling up his fists in anticipation for something coming swinging towards him once the door opened.

Linlin knocked several times on the door in a pattern that appeared to be some sort of code, Kyungsoo observed.

After a brief moment of silence that followed, the door was opened by Lay who already a gun pointed towards Kyungsoo.

If Kyungsoo had any doubts then, he surely didn’t now to know that Lay was really Zhang Yixing, now a wanted criminal.

“Lay, it’s me,” Kyungsoo lifted his hands up as if to surrender and to show he was unarmed.

“I know it’s you,” Lay snapped, closing the door behind him and standing beside Linlin as he lowered the gun.

Kyungsoo found it a bit easier to breathe and talk now that a gun was no longer pointed in his face.

“You shouldn’t be here,” Lay told, smiling at Linlin and rubbing her head, “I can read your mind and I know that you’re not here to arrest me or that you were even authorized to be in here by the CBG. You’re only here for that Chanyeol guy they send to negotiate with me.”

“I should say the same to you. What are you thinking of?” Kyungsoo confronted, “-and where is Chanyeol!?”

“He’s fine. I tied him up with the rest of the hostages inside there because I couldn’t come up to an agreement with him. His ability doesn’t give him much use to fight so he’s stuck as much as they are,” Lay answered.

“Give Chanyeol back to me at least,” Kyungsoo demanded.

“I can’t do that, Kyungsoo,” Lay denied, “I’m going to start killing the hostages one by one per hour starting next hour. I need to make a statement and I think the prime minister’s daughter isn’t enough. Holding a senior agent like Chanyeol will help me with my case and the CBG.”

“You can’t do that,” Kyungsoo stressed, “You’re not just putting yourself but everyone else, innocent people, in danger! You’re not helping the kids like this! You’re actually endangering them and making no sense right now. If you drag this any further, the entire national guard will be storming down here in less than a minute.”

“The ends justify the means,” Lay indulged, already lost beyond all reason.

Before Kyungsoo could say anything further, Lay raised the gun once more with the barrel directly pointing in Kyungsoo’s face.

Linlin hid behind Lay, burying her face in his shirt.

“I’m sorry, Kyungsoo,” Lay apologized, “I know you love Chanyeol but I have to kill him if the deal doesn’t fall through. Now leave before I have to kill you too. You’ve done enough for us.”

Kyungsoo heaved, gasping for air before composing himself. Despite the threats, there was no way he’d just walk away and listen to Lay.

Right at that moment, Kyungsoo had already decided that Chanyeol was more important and than anyone else within the stadium.

At the top of his voice, enough to be overheard inside the room too, Kyungsoo yelled, “Hyung! I need a boost now.”

In a split second, before Lay could even react or even read Kyungsoo’s mind, Kyungsoo sent a powerful telekinetic blast to hurl himself through the door, breaking it open with his body and ability before landing right in front of Chanyeol who was gagged and bound to the floor with the girls and their coach.

All of them but Chanyeol were surprised to see Kyungsoo just blasting through the door and landing right in front of them. If the hostages weren’t confused and scared enough, they sure were now.

Chanyeol only raised an eyebrow back at Kyungsoo.

From behind the doorway, Lay fired his gun onto Kyungsoo but the bullets were all pushed back and sent flying back the other way with his ability.

One of the stray bullets hit Linlin and Lay immediately dropped his gun to tend to her, while Kyungsoo was still distracted to know it had happened.

Kyungsoo quickly touched Chanyeol’s face, one of the bits of Chanyeol’s skin which were exposed and immediately felt a power surge running through him as his abilities were amplified momentarily.

Due to the commotion, Yien, the youngest boy with abilities similar to Kyungsoo, came rushing towards the room and found Lay taking away a severely injured Linlin who was bleeding to death.

Confused and seeing Kyungsoo as a threat now, Yien began to hurl spheres of telekinetic energy towards Kyungsoo who used his amplified powers to hold them back and divert them elsewhere; not wanting to hurt the child.

With one hand holding up and diverting Yien’s attacks, Kyungsoo used another hand to release Chanyeol and the hostages from their bonds with his ability.

“-hyung, get them out. I’ll clear a path,” Kyungsoo had to yell over all the noise as he pulled out his communication device from his pocket and tossed it towards to Chanyeol.

“Be safe,” Chanyeol replied, drying the earpiece with his suit before fixing it to his ear and turning it on to establish communication with the command center once more.

Chanyeol knew Kyungsoo broke some rules to get here but this was not the time to reprimand him for that.

This time, Kyungsoo diverted the telekinetic energy attacks directly towards Yien himself, forcing the young boy to push back and retreat as Kyungsoo advanced further out of the broadcasting room and into the hallway to give an exit for Chanyeol and the hostages.

Kyungsoo also sent out his own telekinetic blast alongside the ones hurled at him. Still under the amplification effect of Chanyeol’s ability, the two forces from both telekinetic users caused an explosion in the hallway outside the broadcasting room, which blew away a portion of the wall that opened up to the view of the stadium field below.

Wanting to get Yien even further away from Chanyeol and the hostages, Kyungsoo sent a force with his ability to push the young boy through the hole in the wall and out onto the rainy field below.

Kyungsoo followed shortly later, using his ability again as a launchpad to throw himself safely down at least a thirty meters fall.

Getting down was always easier than going up.

At the same time, Chanyeol ran into Lay, cradling a now dead Linlin in his arms somewhere down the staircase as he was trying to escape. Upon seeing Chanyeol and angered by Linlin’s death, Lay immediately grabbed for his gun and attempted to fire upon Chanyeol and the hostages.

Because their abilities were non-offensive and didn’t assist them in this situation, Chanyeol had to fight Lay with his bare hands in a fistfight, trying to wrestle the gun away from Lay while giving the hostages a room to escape.

Even if they were Gifteds, they were fighting just like two regular people; with Lay being too distraught to read anyone’s mind and Chanyeol’s ability not really amplifying or reducing anything that would affect him.

With the CBG now storming into the stadium, several agents came to Chanyeol’s aid soon enough and Lay was apprehended. The hostages were also taken in safely.

Out on the field, Yien immediately noticed Junyu’s dead body and rushed to his friend’s side. Kyungsoo was just seeing this and was stunned in horror under the rain that was now letting up.

His first instinct was to rush up to Junyu and check on the condition, even if he knew it was already bad and beyond help from the looks of it.

Fueled with further anger at seeing Junyu dead, Yien sent out an erratic and hardly controlled burst of telekinetic energy out of his body, which was about to explode right in Kyungsoo’s face until a black figure with similarly colored wings, swooped in from the sky and picked up the young boy.

The figure of the men dressed in black carried Yien high up above the stadium where his ability came to a critical point and exploded safely, sending out a shockwave in the surroundings but without harming anyone.

Kyungsoo had his head turned up towards the sky and his mouth hung open, unable to say or do anything as he watched the bright explosion followed by a brief shower of blood-red from the sky, which had come from Yien’s body that had disintegrated following the critical point of his uncontrolled ability.

Bathed in the blood of the now-dead child, Kyungsoo’s eyes followed the man clad in black who flew down to the ground and retracted his wings behind him before they disappeared out of sight. Although they rarely met, Kyungsoo recognized him.

This was Byun Baekhyun, the head director of the CBG. His ability which earned him the nickname of “vampire” allowed him to spurt wings from his back that allowed him to fly, invincibility and near-immortality if he continued to consume mammal blood regularly. It was known that Baekhyun was nearing a hundred years old despite his appearance of a man in his mid to late twenties.

Baekhyun only took a quick glance at Kyungsoo before turning to address Junmyeon, Minseok and the CBG agents who stormed the field shortly after.

Kyungsoo couldn’t think much because he was so distraught but he knew that if Baekhyun was out there and during the day, he was in for some deep trouble.


	5. What we say

Kyungsoo hardly had time to sleep over the next week and neither did Chanyeol, Sehun, Junmyeon, Minseok or most people in the CBG for that matter.

Kyungsoo had to sit for hours upon hours of questionings, meetings, and debriefing regarding the stadium incident. Sometimes he was questioned with Chanyeol and sometimes he was alone.

He was asked the same questions over and over by different people and had to give them detailed answers every time, tirelessly.

Every other hour he wasn’t being quizzed by the superiors, Kyungsoo had to write up reports and deal with the paperwork of the aftermath of the incident.

Kyungsoo and Chanyeol were eating takeaway and vending machine food at their desks in between reports and questionings. They were sleeping at their desks or on benches within the CBG’s building because all the resting area bunks were full from everyone else working overtime. Showers were taken in the toilets.

At one point, they even ran out of clean underwear to wear and had to sneak out to get disposables ones at a convenience store at four in the morning.

Kyungsoo didn’t even see his own apartment until the sixth day, where he hurriedly rushed inside to water his cactus before it was any longer.

Now that he was alone and had some free time, Kyungsoo was no longer distracted by being busy. Then he had to deal with the turmoil of his emotions from the incident which had cost innocent lives of the children, who were just following a man who promised them a better life.

Kyungsoo dryly sobbed at the edge of his bed in his empty apartment, too tired to even produce tears before collapsing on his bed due to exhaustion.

Kyungsoo knew about Lay and the children all along but yet he was stuck with indecisiveness and hesitation that eventually led to this.

Truthfully, Kyungsoo felt sorry and guilty for what he had done. Even if it wasn’t particularly his fault, he did feel responsible. In retrospect, Kyungsoo felt that he should have done more.

Kyungsoo had cried himself to sleep still fully dressed in his work clothes and without even taking off his socks. It was early in the evening when he fell asleep and Kyungsoo slept through the entire night, waking up the next morning at around eight in the morning after almost thirteen hours of sleep.

Kyungsoo would usually already be awake at six in the morning on a weekday but he wasn’t expected to go to work that day, after working straight for six days.

When Kyungsoo woke up after finally getting adequate rest for the first time that week, he was awoken to a bright apartment with the window open, soft morning sun seeping through and fresh early fall air blowing in due to a calm breeze.

The rich smell of coffee brewing wafted through the air and Kyungsoo found that although he was still in the work clothes he went to sleep with, his socks had been taken off and were nowhere in sight.

One of the first things Kyungsoo did upon waking up was to look for his phone, which he found fully charged on his nightstand, quickly checking for notifications or any important texts.

Moments later, even before Kyungsoo could get out of bed and was still on his phone, the front door unlocked and was opened from outside. Due to the small size of Kyungsoo’s barely 500 square feet apartment, he could see the door from where the bed was and vice versa.

Kyungsoo looked up from his phone, staring at Chanyeol who just entered inside and was taking off his shoes at the doorway with a plastic bag of takeaway containers from a nearby restaurant. There was a noticeable whiff of tobacco stench on Chanyeol, which emanated through the air when he came. 

“You’re awake,” Chanyeol noted, walking over to the kitchen area just adjacent from the living space, checking up on the coffee brewer which he too had gotten for Kyungsoo, “I bought some porridge and the coffee is ready. We can have breakfast now if you want to.”

“Uh…yeah sure,” Kyungsoo replied from the bed, instantly remembering that he had been crying the night before and quickly checking his reflection on his phone screen to make sure his eyes weren’t sore and puffy, which they sure were especially after the long sleep.

While Chanyeol poured out the takeaway porridge into two bowls and made the coffee for breakfast, Kyungsoo went to the washroom to freshen up by washing his face, gargling and making sure his sore eyes from crying weren’t that too obvious.

Only after that and changing out of the clothes he had been wearing for a few days straight now, Kyungsoo joined Chanyeol at the small round dining table in the middle of the apartment, which was only enough to fit three people.

“When did you get here, hyung?” Kyungsoo asked, picking up the mug of coffee that had been set out for him on the table. Just like Kyungsoo preferred, Chanyeol had only added sugar and no milk into Kyungsoo’s coffee.

“Two hours ago,” Chanyeol estimated, crossing his legs under the table and leaning back against the chair, “I couldn’t sleep. I kept waking up at night so I just went down to the gym at four in the morning and drove here right after. Did you sleep well?”

“Yeah, it was okay,” Kyungsoo answered, spooning through his porridge to cool it down.

“That’s good then,” Chanyeol spoke up, reaching for his spoon and holding it in his hand but not bringing it anywhere near his bowl, “I was worried so I came to check up on you. What were you crying about?”

Kyungsoo froze, looking down at his bowl while still holding the spoon that now stopped mixing the porridge, unable to say anything else. Kyungsoo thought Chanyeol hadn’t noticed that but it was apparent now that he surely did.

“I know you’re upset and our last job bothered you because you haven’t talked to me about it. You used to tell me everything that made you feel upset and when you didn’t, I also didn’t feel right,” Chanyeol mentioned, “-but I’m here and free now. You can talk to me about it.”

“I-It’s nothing, hyung. I’m just tired,“ Kyungsoo trembled slightly, his hand holding the spoon also shaking and clinking against the rim of the porcelain bowl, contradicting all the words of assurance which he spoke of.

Chanyeol sighed, leaning forward and resting arm on the table, seeming to know that Kyungsoo was lying and was visibly unsatisfied by that. Chanyeol kept quiet, not pressing further as he looked towards Kyungsoo and then back down at the table.

Kyungsoo tried to focus on something else and forced himself to eat the porridge, swallowing down the soft rice and broth despite how bland it tasted.

Maybe Kyungsoo really needed to add salt to the porridge to give it more flavor or maybe he was just trying to distract both himself and Chanyeol about the elephant in the room that needed to be addressed.

Kyungsoo stretched out his arm towards the center of the round table where the salt, sugar and soy sauce shakers were placed at.

However, just as Kyungsoo’s palm was merely a few inches from grabbing the salt shaker, he unwillingly released a weak blast of telekinetic energy which was enough to smash all the small glass bottle shakers. Luckily, the bowls and mugs were spared.

Both Kyungsoo and Chanyeol gasped, a little surprised. Kyungsoo was even more shocked than Chanyeol was, even though it was due to his own ability.

Kyungsoo quickly got up and rushed to the cabinet to grab some kitchen towels to wipe up the mess. Chanyeol quickly grabbed the mugs and bowls off the table, putting them elsewhere in the meantime.

It was an accident that sometimes often happened when Kyungsoo’s emotions were out of balance, which both he and Chanyeol were already used to. Chanyeol had experienced his fair share of bent spoons and broken glasses because of Kyungsoo when they were living together.

After all, that was the main reason why Chanyeol was assigned as Kyungsoo’s guardian initially; which was so Chanyeol could keep him under control and balanced. Although, it was safe to say that Chanyeol had done so much more for Kyungsoo than what he was expected to do.

Once they had mostly cleaned up the spill, Chanyeol was putting back the bowls and mugs onto the table while Kyungsoo was standing over a sink and rinsing out the rags he had used to wipe the mess with.

But after everything had been arranged back on the table and it was all ready for them to resume having breakfast, albeit, with colder porridge, Chanyeol noticed that the kitchen sink had just been running for a while.

And that Kyungsoo was just standing there with his back hunched over the sink, his shoulders heaving and his body trembling slightly as if he was sobbing and crying.

Noticing that, Chanyeol slowly walked over to the sink and reassuringly rested a palm on Kyungsoo’s lower back, simply leaving it there as if to remind Kyungsoo that Chanyeol was there for him.

With his free hand, Chanyeol turned off the sink tap, leaving them both in the dead of the silence of Kyungsoo’s apartment.

Kyungsoo was breathing heavily, his chest heaving as he tried to withhold tears he knew would fall.

Chanyeol too was quiet. While he lacked words of comfort and reassurance, he made his presence and availability evident because he was aware of how much he understood and knew Kyungsoo. At a time, Chanyeol too was once a young Gifted who was forced to deal with the cruelty of life.

“Are you still hungry? Do you want to continue eating?” Chanyeol asked, lowly.

“Not really,” Kyungsoo shook his head, still not turning to face Chanyeol.

“Alright then,” Chanyeol then suggested, “-but you didn’t eat much and you might get hungry later on. We can go out and get some takeaway for later tonight…and then maybe go for a walk down by the docks. Do you want to come with me?”

Chanyeol moved his hand resting on Kyungsoo’s back, moving it upwards before settling somewhere between the latter’s shoulder blades, rubbing Kyungsoo on the back reassuringly.

Kyungsoo balled his palm into a fist, grabbing onto the hem of his shirt. His head was lowered and he still refused to look at Chanyeol in the eye. Kyungsoo answered, “Yeah, sure. Let’s go take a walk.”

“Alright then,” Chanyeol promptly agreed, “You can go shower and get ready. I’ll clean up here.”

Kyungsoo nodded, bowing his head a little in affirmation before excusing himself away from the kitchen area.

Once Kyungsoo was in the shower and the water was running, Chanyeol heaved a deep sigh of relief, spending some time by himself just staring at the sink while full of thought much like Kyungsoo had been earlier on.

Chanyeol took his responsibilities seriously and even now when Kyungsoo was an adult and no longer a ward of his, Chanyeol still felt responsible for Kyungsoo’s well-being. A small part in Chanyeol felt like he just failed at that.

Chanyeol cared a lot and it wasn’t far-fetched to say that if Kyungsoo hurt, he did too. When it came to work-related matters, Chanyeol could have been able to find a solution to a problem but when it became to this, he too was at a loss for actions.

Less than an hour later, Kyungsoo and Chanyeol both found themselves sitting on a bench on the dock overlooking a busy shipping port located near the mouth of a river that led out to sea.

A recreational park had been constructed by the docks with a jogging route and park benches for people to sit on. The park was usually frequented by those who lived around the area. Although, it was more deserted at this time of the year due to the cold weather outside.

The leaves on the tree were brown and falling off as winter was approaching. The air was cold, still and chilly. The skies were cloudy and gray even in the afternoon as if to put a further damper on their emotions.

No joggers were seen around, only the occasional person walking their dog and then there was Chanyeol and Kyungsoo on the bench near the edge of the water.

Out on the river in front of them were just numerous cargo ships loaded with containers passing here and there. There wasn’t much of sight but it was quiet at least.

Now that he was outside, Chanyeol was itching for a smoke. His hands were fidgeting while tucked in the pocket of his coat. However, he didn’t want to leave Kyungsoo’s side just to go and smoke, especially at a time when Kyungsoo needed him the most, even if all Kyungsoo did was just stare at the pavement near his feet.

While Chanyeol was contemplating on now actually asking Kyungsoo if he could excuse himself a bit for a smoke to satisfy the nicotine addiction he didn’t acknowledge he had, Kyungsoo called out for him in a shaky voice.

“H-hyung,” Kyungsoo almost croaked out, tilting his head slightly towards Chanyeol who was sitting on the opposite end of the bench from him.

“Hmm?” Chanyeol responded, his brain snapping from his nicotine craving to addressing Kyungsoo instead.

“I think I’m ready,” Kyungsoo spoke timidly, “There’s something I have to tell you. I haven’t been entirely honest with you, hyung. It’s very important.”

“What’s wrong?” Chanyeol almost immediately blurted out, already sensing something was wrong just judging from Kyungsoo’s uncomfortable tone and body language.

Between both of them, Chanyeol was probably the more scared one because he didn’t know what Kyungsoo was going to tell him or how severe this revelation would turn out to be. Kyungsoo had never hidden things from him and Chanyeol just didn’t know how to deal with it now. Frankly, this was a first for him too.

“Hyung,” Kyungsoo gulped and then resumed after a brief pause, “I knew who Zhang Yixing is and the children with him too. I have been in regular contact with them for over a month before the hostage incident at the stadium. I was aware of them being refugees who had come here illegally. Yixing approached me because he knew I worked for the CBG because of his ability to read my mind. He tried to get me to get help for him, especially the children-”

Kyungsoo’s breath hitched before he was able to continue further and he turned to look at Chanyeol who was displaying an expression Kyungsoo was seeing on the latter’s face for the first time in all the years they’ve known each other.

As if time had come to a standstill, Chanyeol was just sitting there with a surprised look on his face and his mouth slightly hung open, his hands still comically tucked into the pockets of his coat.

Kyungsoo trembled, scared himself because he didn’t expect such a reaction of the usually stoic Chanyeol when hardly anything seemed to ever surprise the senior CBG agent.

“-y-you what?” Chanyeol stuttered a little, speaking to break the rift of silence between them, “So you knew about Zhang Yixing was going to do beforehand?”

“N-no!” Kyungsoo immediately denied, “I didn’t know he would do such a thing and put the children in such danger. I swear, hyung. He just seemed like a nice guy who was helping the children find a better life. He was hoping the CBG would help take the children in but he didn’t have the connections to help him. But I was scared of telling you or anyone else too because I didn’t know what to do. But if I knew it would end like this, I would have…” Kyungsoo trailed off, unable to finish knowing the grim reality that had happened.

Instantly, Chanyeol whipped his head left and right and made sure to look behind too, making sure no one else was in the vicinity to overhear their conversation.

“Shh..,” Chanyeol hushed, “Not too loud. I don’t want you to get in trouble. We should go back first.”

Chanyeol quickly stood up, took out his hands from his pockets and grabbed onto Kyungsoo’s arm, ready to bring Kyungsoo elsewhere.

“-but hyung,” Kyungsoo hesitated, looking up at Chanyeol from the bench, his eyes blinking behind his glasses.

“Keep quiet. We’ll talk later,” Chanyeol shut him again, pulled Kyungsoo up from the bench, leading Kyungsoo back to the car.

The ride home was silent of their conversation but it was loud from Chanyeol revving the engine, driving as fast as he could in a standard sedan without getting pulled over by the traffic police.

As expected, Chanyeol didn’t drive them back to Kyungsoo’s apartment but his own instead. And even when they had safely parked in the basement parking lot, Chanyeol was always looking over his shoulder and around to make sure they really were alone and not being followed.

Chanyeol immediately went for a smoke once he was in his own apartment, albeit with the windows open even if it meant letting in some cold autumn air into his adequately heated apartment.

While, Kyungsoo sat on the couch with a can of drink in his lap that came from Chanyeol’s fridge, explaining about how he knew Zhang Yixing as Lay as well as the children and even Soojung.

This time, Chanyeol was his usual calm and collected self while he smoked and listened to Kyungsoo’s side of the story. Chanyeol stood near the window but not too far from Kyungsoo on the couch just nearby in the apartment’s living room.

Chanyeol wanted to attribute his restlessness from earlier on to his nicotine cravings, which was now fulfilled and no longer distracted him.

Chanyeol quickly finished up and extinguished the bud of his cigarette in a glass ashtray before closing the window and plopping on the couch opposite from Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo’s half unfinished can drink was still in his lap between his thighs, now acting as some sort of security blanket that he held onto, focusing his gaze on it instead of something else.

“Are you going to turn me in now to the seniors?” Kyungsoo meekly questioned, only looking up briefly towards Chanyeol on the opposite couch.

“No, and this stays between us,” Chanyeol affirmed, crossing his legs and linking his palms together while resting them on his knees, “You are to tell no one about this. Your involvement, in this case, is as what you presented to know prior to this. Understand?”

Kyungsoo nodded, “I understand…but why, hyung? I broke the rules. I wasn’t honest and transparent in my duties as a CBG agent. If I just told you and reported about Yixing earlier on, this all wouldn’t have happened,” Kyungsoo’s voice began to broke, “…t-the kids. They…they wouldn’t have died.”

“-and why exactly did you choose not to tell me about it then?” Chanyeol asked calmly, making sure to understand and not accuse.

“I was scared of disappointing them,” Kyungsoo confessed, “Yixing had this idea that the CBG would take in the children and give them better lives like what they do for a lot of Gifted children much like me before. But I didn’t think that the CBG would help because they were refugees and we have never taken in foreign citizens. And…and I also personally thought that being tied to the CBG wasn’t exactly a good choice for them either. Our rights are extremely limited, we are treated like second-class citizens and our freedom is merely an illusion. I’d rather take the risk and pretend to be a non-Gifted like they already were than willingly submit myself to the CBG all over again. ”

“So you decided that they would feel the same way you do if they were taken in by the CBG,” Chanyeol added, “Essentially, you were deciding for them.”

“That was my mistake,” Kyungsoo admitted, “I shouldn’t have done that. I was merely projecting on them. I thought I was giving them the option I never had but I was just dismissing their plight and suffering. I’m really sorry, hyung. What I did was wrong.”

Chanyeol was quiet as he continued gazing upon Kyungsoo whose head was lowered and visibly sobbing yet again. Chanyeol was at a loss of words to comfort Kyungsoo. This, too, was hard for him to digest and deal with personally and professionally.

Kyungsoo, from behind his tears and quiet sobs looked up at Chanyeol and asked him a painful question, “Hyung, could I have given them a better life had I turned them in? Could I really have stopped all of this from ever happening?”

Chanyeol sighed and his shoulders fell slightly forward before he could give the answer, “I cannot exactly say for sure that they would have had a ‘better life’ had you done that. You weren’t wrong either with your concerns. We have never taken in foreign Gifteds and I don’t know if we would have done that or deported them to China where they were allegedly treated worse. The CBG aren’t saints either. We have done our fair share of unethical experimentation on Gifteds. We are no better than the Gifted Agency of China. We are not saints for sure.”

Almost instantly, Kyungsoo stopped crying and his expression turned to that more of horror as he stared straight back up at Chanyeol with puffy red eyes and foggy glasses that were stained with tears.

Even if it wasn’t exactly a surprise to hear that the CBG might be on par with the GA regarding inhuman treatments of Gifteds, Kyungsoo was still shocked nonetheless and everything else seemed to make sense now.

Kyungsoo found it short-sighted of him to not have considered it all these while. Not especially when his “initiation rite” into the CBG six years ago was to actually risk many lives by lifting an entire building and possibly endangering many people and even children. It should have already been evident and clear as day then.

“Do you know why I asked you to stop questioning the CBG and about the status of Gifteds, stuff which you had been wondering about lately? This is why, Kyungsoo,” Chanyeol brought up, maintaining his placid demeanor, “It doesn’t matter whether it’s here or in China, Gifteds are generally treated the same away even by the bureau that was said to be specifically made to protect them.”

Chanyeol sighed, pushing his hair back with a hand as he looked up at the ceiling. His chest felt constricted, maybe because of the truth he was about to reveal or maybe due to his years of being a smoker.

“Honestly,” Chanyeol heaved, “I think we actually had it good. Generally, the CBG tends to treat us agents who serve them- well. I can’t say the same for those who were captured and incarcerated be it because they committed a crime or were just unlucky. But even then…”

Kyungsoo bit his lower lip and grasped onto the fabric of his jeans, feeling the heaviness set deep in Chanyeol’s words.

“Even I was born as a result of experimentation,” Chanyeol revealed, leaning forward with his arms perched on his thighs, choosing to stare at the reflection of himself on the glass coffee table that separated him from Kyungsoo across.

Kyungsoo froze in anticipation of what Chanyeol would further say. While he wasn’t surprised to hear this, Kyungsoo still hoped that it wasn’t true. Was this really the same Commission Bureau of Gifteds that Kyungsoo had heard so much good about, yet also had to witness the horrors of?

Chanyeol continued, “It didn’t take long for the CBG to realize that it would be beneficial for them to have agents who were raised from birth to be loyal to them. I am almost thirty years old and I know I wasn’t the first person either who was born into the CBG, solely to serve them for the rest of my life. In fact, I know of others who are almost close to retirement age now. You should know that it’s impossible in most cases to tell whether a child is a Gifted or not until they start showing signs of their abilities, which is when they’re already a bit older. However, if you have two Gifteds to make a child with each other, the chances of the child being a Gifted will be extremely likely. How else do you think the CBG made sure to guarantee that they would be able to have a Gifted child born into their service? By having two agents breed and make a child with each other. But of course, they would only pick the best CBG agents with ‘preferable’ abilities to have a child together. If you are chosen for this, you cannot say no but at least they won’t put the burden of raising the child on you,” Chanyeol darkly chuckled in sarcasm.

Kyungsoo lifted his head up, staring right back at Chanyeol across from him. Chanyeol was also looking up now but his eyes were dull and unfocused, tired even, and not really fixed on anything but blank space.

As if a lump was lodged in his chest, Chanyeol continued to speak, “I know of this because I and the other children who were born in circumstances like mine were raised together in a special home. We were told of how we came to be, we were told we were special because we were apparently ‘tailor-made’ to serve the CBG. When we turned twelve, we left the special home and joined the Gifted Academy which all the Gifteds go to. From there, they just tell us to make our own way in the world- while serving the CBG of course. So yeah, I wouldn’t say that we are too different than the Gifted Agency of China, to be honest.”

Kyungsoo thought he had it hard when serving the CBG was the only option for him to have a “normal” life that didn’t include becoming an outlaw or being imprisoned for life. While he wasn’t comparing, by far, Kyungsoo thought that Chanyeol certainly had the shorter end of the stick.

Then it all hit Kyungsoo. The reason why Chanyeol never questioned about his life and limited rights as a Gifted compared to what a non-Gifted experienced, was not because he never felt how it was like and how “good” it could be.

It was because, to Chanyeol, a life different than what he led was merely a fantasy that only existed in stories. It wasn’t even something he could consider least to imagine.

Kyungsoo felt awful, mainly for the previous arguments or debates he had with Chanyeol about this very subject, without having even known what exactly Chanyeol had been going through for three decades. Kyungsoo felt that he had been insensitive and self-centered.

Feeling awful about it, Kyungsoo stood up from the couch and made his way around the glass coffee table to where Chanyeol was sitting at.

Kyungsoo dropped himself to the cushion, on the empty space beside Chanyeol and flung his arms around Chanyeol, pulling the latter in for a hug as he sniffled tears whilst burying his face in Chanyeol’s shoulder.

“What’s wrong?” Chanyeol prompted, watching out for Kyungsoo instead of himself.

“Nothing,” Kyungsoo maybe lied, shaking his head as he continued to side-hug Chanyeol, “I’m sorry you had to go through all that, hyung. I really had no idea.”

“It’s alright,” Chanyeol assured, putting an am around Kyungsoo to pull him in closer. Chanyeol wasn’t that oblivious to notice that the shoulder sleeves of his shirt were getting wet from Kyungsoo’s tears.

Chanyeol was hurting too but when it came to Kyungsoo’s needs, his own was no longer a thought and Kyungsoo became his priority.

Frankly, while Chanyeol didn’t even dare to dream nor ever considered a life where he wasn’t a Gifted serving the CBG, he actually didn’t care as long as he was able to provide for Kyungsoo in any way- because that was what made Chanyeol feel fulfilled enough.

Chanyeol wasn’t one to complicate things for himself. This was his goal and his main purpose in life now. Simply put, he had found his place in this world even if like this.

Kyungsoo nodded his head still buried on Chanyeol’s broad shoulder, while Chanyeol continued to reassure him that everything was indeed alright.


	6. What we become

The next time Kyungsoo and Chanyeol went back to work as usual after the whole stadium incident, Chanyeol drove them elsewhere instead of the CBG headquarters.

Kyungsoo knew where they were heading because Chanyeol had told him beforehand. It would be Kyungsoo’s first time visiting the Gifted Detainment Center, the prison that holds all incarcerated Gifteds within South Korea.

The prison was located on the outskirts of Seoul, less than an hour’s drive away from the city center. From the highway, Chanyeol took a turn that led them down an empty two-way road in the middle of the forests. From there, they had to pass three sets of gates with complete security clearance and surveillance before they arrived within the compounds of the prison.

The prison building itself was massive and at least eight stories high, being cylindrically shaped with thick concrete walls painted in a plain white color and almost no windows to the exterior. As expected of a place that was meant to keep people in.

Even the weather seemed to agree with how looming the place was, with gray cloudy skies above that threatened to pour anytime soon.

The Gifted Detention Center held over 450 prisoners, which was a multitude of times more compared to the incarceration rate of non-Gifteds, especially considering that there are only less than 25,000 Gifteds in the entire country.

It didn’t take a genius to know that the law was in favor against Gifteds.

Chanyeol parked outside at the visitor’s parking lot before he and Kyungsoo rushed inside as it began to rain, not wanting to get wet with cold rain especially at this time of the year.

The interior of the building was similar. Long and empty hallways painted in plain white with blinding bright lights, not to mention all the security personnel and equipment monitoring their every moves. Surely, being conducive was the least thing in mind when this place was constructed.

Chanyeol and Kyungsoo went through at least another three more security clearances within the building until they were permitted to take the elevator down to the basement floors where the prisoners were being held.

Kyungsoo, a regular field agent wouldn’t have been able to obtain the permission and clearances to come down here alone. It was Chanyeol’s rank that permitted him here. And even then, Chanyeol probably wouldn’t even easily be granted permission to visit the detention center if it weren’t for the ongoing investigation they were doing.

After all, they were there that day for a special purpose. To meet Zhang Yixing or Lay for the first time since he was captured by the CBG at the soccer stadium.

The stadium incident which results in the deaths of three of the four children Yixing was caring for was less than a month ago. But within that short time, Yixing had already been tried and persecuted in the Gifted court, where he was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Had Yixing been a non-Gifted, his case would still probably be ongoing now and he would have a lawyer to defend him with his country fighting to extradite him back. But such wasn’t the privilege of a Gifted.

Several stories down underground, Chanyeol and Kyungsoo were led down another plain and brightly lit hall with several heavy doors on the wall all within a fixed distance of each other.

Behind these doors were the prisoner cells and there was a metal grate on the door to allow the guards to send food to the prisoners, although it was sealed shut normally. There were just numbers on the cell, which the prisoners are referred to instead of their given names as even that ceased to be a right once imprisoned.

All the prisoners here had their own individual cells and they spent almost the entire time of their incarceration being isolated.

At the end of the hallway on every cell floor was an interrogation room where the prisoners were brought to answer questions only from investigators, as they were denied visitors from outside.

The guards had brought Yixing out from his cell to the nearest interrogation room, where he was handcuffed and shackled to a chair that was bolted into the ground, placed in front of a one-way mirror from where Chanyeol and Kyungsoo were able to see him.

They were still able to talk using built-in speakers and microphones on both sides that facilitated communication.

Kyungsoo remained quiet, standing in the back of the darkened room while Chanyeol sat in front of the one-way mirror and questioned Yixing while jotting notes down on his tablet.

Kyungsoo didn’t know what he would even say and he chose to let Chanyeol handle the matter. Preferably, Kyungsoo wanted to leave the place without Yixing even knowing that he was there because frankly, Kyungsoo still did think that he could have prevented all this from happening.

It hadn’t been long since Yixing was imprisoned but yet, Kyungsoo could already see how disheveled Yixing had become. His hair was visibly tangled and unruly. His natural dark roots were visibly longer now, in contrast to the greyish color he used to dye his hair in. Yixing’s cheeks were sunken and he looked thin and rather pale.

Simply put, Yixing looked as if there was no more life in him and Kyungsoo could almost feel his pain. If Kyungsoo was devastated at the children’s deaths, then Yixing was even more so.

Kyungsoo continued watching and listening in the darkness, his back pressed up against the wall furthest from the one-way mirror, letting Chanyeol take care of the matter at hand. Kyungsoo was mostly looking at Chanyeol’s back or the floor or even his shoes, wanting to avoid looking at Yixing for as most as he could due to the guilt he felt.

While Kyungsoo was waiting, he might have been distracted by his thoughts an ended up thinking about other mundane things such as what to eat for dinner that night or what clothes he wanted to wear to work tomorrow.

With Kyungsoo’s thoughts being more obvious, despite how banal they were, Yixing was able to pick it up and while still answering Chanyeol’s questions, Yixing paused and what he was about to say- cut off.

“Is there something wrong?” Chanyeol raised an eyebrow, speaking through a microphone that transmitted his voice to Yixing’s side.

Seeing as Yixing had been cooperative so far, the abrupt stop left Chanyeol feeling puzzled.

Yixing wasn’t able to see through the other side of the glass. The entire time, he had been staring back at the reflection of himself in the mirror while he was questioned. Now that he was able to read and sense the thoughts of someone else other than Chanyeol, Yixing instead stared at a different location from where he thought the other person was.

As if almost short of breath while trying to keep his voice steady amidst holding back tears, Yixing’s voice cracked, “K-kyungsoo…is that you?”

Kyungsoo froze like a deer in headlights, immediately snapping from his routine thoughts to look at the one-way mirror which evidently allowed him to see the despair all over Yixing’s face.

Kyungsoo didn’t know what to do nor say. He was simply glued to the spot near the wall, not even able to look away from how haunted Yixing appeared to be. Hearing Yixing’s voice was enough to cause heartbreak and now, even more, when Kyungsoo saw just exactly what the turn of events had done to him.

Chanyeol did not hesitate. He pursued the questioning despite Yixing being distracted, wanting to put the pressure away from Kyungsoo of having to deal with “this” again.

“Kyungsoo,” Yixing addressed, ignoring Chanyeol, “Soojung and Xuanyi. Find them. I know they’re still out there. Help them, please. You’re the only I can ask for-”

Before Yixing could continue, Chanyeol had slammed down on the button that muted the microphone from Yixing’s side of the interrogation room.

Yixing was seen visibly distraught and attempting to break free from the restraints that bound him to the chair, knowing that Chanyeol was no longer allowing him to speak and convey a message across to Kyungsoo.

Several guards stormed the room shortly later, holding Yixing down before Chanyeol instructed the guards to take Yixing away and concluding that the interrogation was now done.

While Kyungsoo was still immobile by the wall, still trying to process everything that had happened, Chanyeol touched him on the arm and gently told him that they were to leave now.

Kyungsoo nodded, glad for the diversion of attention somewhat and promptly left the prison with Chanyeol.

As expected, the ride back to Seoul was quiet and although this wasn’t too out of the ordinary, Kyungsoo still had the gut feeling that it was not actually alright. That he wasn’t alright with all of this.

**

Kyungsoo continued to stay over at Chanyeol’s apartment for a week after they both returned to work following the stadium incident.

Kyungsoo thought that returning back to his place would put his mind more at ease but yet he was still plagued with the horrors of the tragedy and his indecisiveness, which in turn led to many sleepless nights and nightmares even when he managed to pass out from exhaustion.

Despite what Chanyeol or even Sehun, Minseok and Junmyeon told him after the incident to reassure Kyungsoo that it wasn’t his fault, Kyungsoo still held onto the belief that he could have done something to prevent it.

Kyungsoo still couldn’t shake off the notion that this was his fault and he was too stubborn to listen to anyone who told him otherwise. He had become trapped within his own bubble of guilt and self-enforced beliefs.

Chanyeol celebrated his 30th birthday in late November, two months after the stadium incident. It was a somber occasion where Chanyeol celebrated it with Kyungsoo while dining on take-away bought from a restaurant they often frequented.

Chanyeol’s birthday was also one of the few days in a year where he got to see his mother, who dropped into the Seoul CBG headquarters for an hour or two to pass him a small cake as a gift before promptly leaving with a monotonous “goodbye”.

That year, Kyungsoo was with Chanyeol when his mother came to visit. Kyungsoo had only met her in passing a few times when she was called into the Seoul headquarters. Although they never interacted, it seemed that she knew of Kyungsoo being Chanyeol’s ward. It wasn’t that hard to spot Chanyeol’s mother in a crowd due to her distinct green skin.

Even while Chanyeol and his mother were seeing each other, Kyungsoo noticed how they kept a good distance from each other and how they both wore gloves to shake each other's hands like two business partners would instead of a mother and son. 

From a nametag she wore on her uniform, Kyungsoo learned that her surname was "Park", and that it was her family name which Chanyeol had obtained instead of his father's.

Now knowing the circumstances of Chanyeol’s birth and what his mother had to go through thanks to the CBG, Kyungsoo understood why she acted the way she did towards Chanyeol. It wasn’t fair for Chanyeol, his mother and maybe even Chanyeol’s father too whom Kyungsoo had yet to find out who he was.

The CBG was established for the Gifteds to supposedly give them a better life but were they living better lives per se?

And above all, Kyungsoo could never forget what Yixing had told him at the detention center. Even when he tried to distract himself, Yixing’s words and pleas still rung in his ears as if he was just hearing it again.

**

The first snow that winter fell exactly on the first day of December. On the very same day, Chanyeol and Kyungsoo were sent out on a mission to track a schoolgirl who was believed to be an unregistered Gifted after an anonymous tip-off from someone believed to be her schoolmate.

The target in question was a fourteen-year-old middle schooler named Kim Yeri. Chanyeol and Kyungsoo waited outside the school gates in their car and carefully followed her down all the way to a subway station.

From there, both Chanyeol and Kyungsoo had to also take the subway too in order to pursue and finally apprehend her somewhere quiet and isolated away from the prying eyes of the people.

At this time in the afternoon, the subway wasn’t too busy but also considerably filled with people, mostly students returning home after the end of the school day.

Chanyeol, dressed in a brown trench coat under his usual clothes, stood by the door of the subway car where they followed Yeri into. Chanyeol pretended to look at his phone while actually using his ability to sense other Gifteds to make sure both Yeri and Kyungsoo were right were they supposed to be, in case she tried to run away.

Meanwhile, Kyungsoo was the one who approached Yeri even closer. Kyungsoo’s youthful appearance and his plain white shirt and black trousers visible under his black coat allowed him to blend in even more in the subway car mostly filled with students.

Even if it was his job to arrest other Gifteds, Kyungsoo still made it a priority that they did not feel uncomfortable or got hurt during the process.

Kyungsoo found an empty seat beside Yeri and sat beside her, which certainly caught her attention.

Yeri looked up from her phone at Kyungsoo who was smiling back her. Maybe Kyungsoo’s efforts to comfort up to his targets actually drove them to feel even more intimidated.

“Excuse me?” Yeri asked, “Do you need anything?”

At the end of the subway car, Chanyeol sighed and rolled his eyes as Kyungsoo awkwardly tried his best to be inconspicuous but only ended up seeming more suspicious.

“Uh…I’m Do Kyungsoo,” Kyungsoo attempted to introduce himself.

“Y-yeah, and…do I know you?” Yeri asked further.

Kyungsoo glanced over at Chanyeol who was now side-eyeing him before lowering his voice and addressing, “I’m a junior field agent with the CBG. Please don’t be alarmed. I’m here to help you. My partner and I just want to take you in for questioning. Don’t worry, the CB…I mean I won’t hurt you.”

Kyungsoo felt like biting his own tongue when he said that. It was definitely a slip of the tongue because it was what he was used to saying. Kyungsoo used to believe that the CBG would be taking care of the Gifteds and not harm them but he could not say the same anymore.

It seemed that the only person he could trust these days was just himself because Kyungsoo knew that he would never hurt anyone deliberately. He couldn’t speak for the CBG though.

“I-I don’t believe you,” Yeri stammered, “I demand to see some ID. Besides, what makes you think I’m a Gifted? Do you have any proof?”

“Ah sure,” Kyungsoo easily complied, reaching into his inner pocket for his CBG agent identification to show to Yeri as proof.

Before he could even do that, Yeri had pushed him out of the way before fleeing down the subway car, heading towards Chanyeol’s direction.

Yeri shoved a few people to get through and also stirred up some attention from onlookers when Kyungsoo was pushed off his seat onto the floor of the subway car.

Chanyeol managed to block her escape, gripping Yeri by the shoulders and announcing himself also as a CBG agent who had to take her in.

Kyungsoo, on the other hand, scampered to his feet to chase Yeri who was trying to board the next subway car.

“Get off from me,” Yeri shrieked, unleashing her ability which was revealed to generate a shock wave that pushed away everything and everyone around her within a certain radius.

As a result, Chanyeol, Kyungsoo and a few other people around Yeri were pushed back, slamming into each other, the standing rails, onto the seats and even into the walls of the subway car. The glass windows of the subway car also cracked from Yeri’s ability.

“Fuck,” Chanyeol cursed as he picked himself up from the floor of the subway car after being slammed into the wall. He now regretted not touching Yeri directly. Had he made skin contact, she wouldn’t have been able to use her ability.

Chanyeol groaned, pressing a hand to his temple, which hurt immensely as he had been slammed into the walls headfirst. The people around him were also recovering and picking themselves up from whatever they had been thrown into, some of them even being visibly lightly injured.

Kyungsoo, too, had been sent flying into the air from Yeri’s ability and was about to knock into the nearest person before he used his own ability to keep himself steady up in the air and landing onto the floor on his feet.

Kyungsoo witnessed Chanyeol and several other people injured and although his first instinct was to rush and help them, he instead ran after Yeri onto the next subway car before stopping her with his ability, rendering her immobile under his telekinetic hold.

Yeri fought back and Kyungsoo had to expend a considerable amount of energy to put her under the hold of his powers, buying himself time until Chanyeol was able to put her abilities out by grabbing onto her hair as it was the first thing he could get a hold of.

Afterward, Kyungsoo panted, standing with his arms on his hips as he tried to catch his breath while Chanyeol secured the limp but awake Yeri who was lying on the floor of the subway car. It was a common side-effect to feel almost lifeless and extremely exhausted after Chanyeol had used his ability on another Gifted. 

“We’ll get off at the next stop. I’ll arrange for a van to pick us up and send her in,” Chanyeol mentioned, tying Yeri’s hands behind her back with a pair of handcuffs.

“Okay,” Kyungsoo agreed, still breathing heavily.

Then, while Chanyeol was on the phone with the headquarters to arrange for their transportation, Kyungsoo noticed how quiet it had become. In fact, now that Kyungsoo realized it, it was just them in the subway car.

Where were the sounds of the commotion? Where were the sounds of the emergency announcement system that should have turned on when the passengers had triggered it due to the ruckus they had made? Where was the subway attendant who should have checked up on them now?

All Kyungsoo heard was the sounds of the subway rumbling along the tracks, followed by slight shifting movements of the car.

Kyungsoo turned his head to look through the glass of the doors that separated their subway car from the next one.

What he saw were the numerous pairs of eyes staring right back at him, at Chanyeol and even at Yeri. Their eyes were glaring and judging, their expression scowled and a mix of disgust and disapproval.

Kyungsoo knew this look all too well and he felt as if a stake had been driven into his heart to face this again. This was all because the people now knew that they were Gifteds.

“Ignore them. It’ll do you no good,” Chanyeol scoffed, only glancing over for a second before turning his face away.

Chanyeol was right but Kyungsoo still didn’t think it was fair. He didn’t hate anyone but he also questioned why he deserved to be hated for something he had no say over?

Being in the CBG was no better and to Kyungsoo, it merely felt that he had chosen the lesser of two evils because unfortunately, evil was all that was served on the platter.

At the next station, a special CBG van for bringing in detainees was waiting for them. As Chanyeol made the handover with the other agents so Yeri could be taken in, Kyungsoo stood a bit further away near the large entrance of the subway station.

Maybe he didn’t want the many people walking to and from the station to know that he was affiliated with the big blue van that had “CBG” and the official logo largely painted in white on the sides.

Kyungsoo probably couldn’t go yet anyway as they had to return the last subway station where Chanyeol’s car was parked at.

It was cold and already getting dark outside, which was normal for this time of the year. As Kyungsoo was just looking here and there while trying to shut out his thoughts, he swore he caught the glimpse of two raven-haired young women who definitely looked like Soojung and Xuanyi.

They were dressed in plain dull colors and kept their heads low, very evidently trying to not attract any attention towards them. It seemed that they were headed to the subway station but upon seeing the CBG van, they quickly turned around in the opposite direction.

At the same time Kyungsoo saw them, Yixing’s heartbroken desperate please to help them resonated in Kyungsoo’s head.

He had to take action quickly and seeing that Chanyeol and the other CBG agents there were still occupied, Kyungsoo broke into a sprint and pursued Soojung and Xuanyi. By luck, no one seemed to notice him suddenly speed off either.

They were significantly ahead of Kyungsoo and he wasn’t exactly the fastest runner in the CBG. While he could use his abilities to give himself a boost, Kyungsoo wasn’t desperate enough to just unleash his ability in a public space yet again.

Kyungsoo ended up following Soojung and Xuanyi down a narrow alley staircase as the sun was setting, leaving a bluish hue in the atmosphere while snow fell and accumulated on the ground leaving a slipping hazard for Kyungsoo to worry about as he continued his pursuit.

At a turn, the alley ended and opened out to a street with shop buildings lined up on either side. The street was packed with cars and the sidewalks busy with people. Among the crowd, Kyungsoo was forced to admit that he had lost them.

But one thing Kyungsoo was sure of was that Yixing was right. Soojung and Xuanyi were still out there and now out of all times, they needed his help the most.

Used to telling Chanyeol about almost everything because he was the one person Kyungsoo trusted, he found it hard to keep quiet and settled down after knowing the fact that Soojung and Xuanyi were still alive and had seemingly evaded the CBG so far.

Kyungsoo itched to tell Chanyeol about it, hoping he’d be able to help, but Kyungsoo also didn’t want to burden Chanyeol with having to hide his involvement in this case further.

Chanyeol was already breaking rules and risking a lot to protect Kyungsoo. And it would be Kyungsoo’s last wish to add more to what Chanyeol had to bear for him, added by his own personal guilt due to his inaction.

Not that Kyungsoo was exactly sure if Chanyeol knew that he was hiding something more than what he already confessed to.

Kyungsoo never slept well anymore, not since the stadium incident. He could hardly relax and unwind because whenever he did, he was plagued by the thoughts and the feeling that he should be doing more.

At one point, Kyungsoo was unable to even look at his own reflection in the mirror because he hated the “coward” who was staring back at him. Kyungsoo had never felt so disembodied and separated from himself and reality.

He had ceased to live in the present and now only existed in his own headspace where he was constantly riddled by his own guilt and intrusive thoughts.

**

A week or two later, Kyungsoo was waiting inside the headquarters building in front of a soft drink vending machine in the employee’s lounge room, while Chanyeol was smoking on the balcony outside, waiting for him before they went out to lunch together.

Kyungsoo happened to be just mindlessly staring at the aquarium built into the wall right beside the vending machine. He wasn’t exactly looking at it, he was just merely doing so as he let his thoughts carry him off.

It was almost the end of the year and the building was quieter around these times as most of the staff were on leave to clear their annual leaves which the CBG granted to the agents.

Although, CBG staff had to apply for special permits to travel if they went on holiday, and even then, they weren’t allowed to leave the country. Therefore, “holidays” for Gifteds who worked for the CBG was mainly just staying at home and not working.

Kyungsoo wasn’t expecting anyone to walk into the lounge but sure enough, there were. It was Sehun and Jongin this time, laughing about something and talking loudly when they entered.

“Oh, hi!” Sehun jovially greeted the moment he saw Kyungsoo in the lounge.

“What’s up?” Jongin greeted, bouncing some coins in his hand that he intended to feed into the vending machine.

“Hi,” Kyungsoo returned, simply for the sake of formality.

“Interesting fish much?” Sehun teased, seeing that Kyungsoo had just been mindlessly staring at the aquarium from his own point of view.

“They’re cool,” Kyungsoo shrugged.

Jongin glanced over through the glass doors and windows in the lounge that led out to the balcony, where Chanyeol was out smoking with his back turned towards them.

Jongin was around Kyungsoo and Sehun’s age but he was several ranks above them thanks to his extremely useful ability to control anything that utilized any form of electricity powers; which ranged from cellphones, computers, ATM machines, electric trains and cars, and even the entire power grid system.

“He never takes a break, does he?” Jongin’s question was directed to Kyungsoo but they both knew who Jongin was talking about.

“This job is his life,” Kyungsoo replied, summing up.

In the back, Sehun was heard muttering, “Isn’t it cold out there?”

“I thought so,” Jongin said as he fed his coins into the vending machine slot, “I thought you would go on break at least though.”

“Yeah, I really thought you’d take a holiday, after everything that’s happen…you know,” Sehun expressed, sitting on the bench rather close to Kyungsoo, “I mean, you two aren’t part of the skeleton staff needed to run the headquarters during the holidays like us.”

“Well…,” Kyungsoo trailed off before coming up with an answer, “I didn’t want to leave him behind alone, you know. So I thought I might as well work through the holidays.”

“Good partner,” Jongin muttered, bending down to pick up the soft drink cans he bought from the vending machine.

“You look like you could use a break though,” Sehun suggested, playfully massaging one of Kyungsoo’s shoulder only to have him feel ticklish and squirm away.

“Yeah, you want to come to have dinner with us tonight?” Jongin invited, “Sehun and I usually go down to a bistro after work. You can bring Chanyeol too if you want. I thought you two could use some company during these times.”

“No thanks,” Kyungsoo quickly turned down, “-but you can ask Chanyeol-hyung if he’d like to go. I want to go home straight away. Maybe next time?”

“Come on man, come with us,” Sehun patted Kyungsoo on the back.

Kyungsoo continued to shake his head, refusing the offer.

“Well, if you change your mind, just give us a call. If Chanyeol would like to come alone, he can join,” Jongin left the options open for Kyungsoo.

“Yeah…I guess,” Kyungsoo responded, avoiding eye-contact with either Sehun and Jongin for as much as he could.

“You’re okay, right? Everything good?,” Sehun asked a bit more seriously this time with hints of concern in his voice.

For maybe the first time since they walked in, Kyungsoo actually looked at Sehun in the eye. Kyungsoo felt so full of his emotions, so much that he was a dam just ready to burst open.

This was the right opportunity for Kyungsoo to actually tell someone he was remotely comfortable with about what was going on. If he couldn’t tell Chanyeol, he could at least maybe tell them. If it wasn’t obvious enough, it seemed as if both Sehun and Jongin too had noticed that something was certainly not right with Kyungsoo.

But yet, he wasn’t able to when he considered all the risks and the can of worms he might unleash should he choose to do so.

Instead, Kyungsoo shook his head and faked a smile behind the pain, almost so tragically, “Yes, everything is fine. I’m alright.”

Soon enough, the year ended bringing in the new year along with harsher and colder winters. In a bit more than a week, Kyungsoo would be turning twenty-one and a few weeks from then, it would officially be three years since he became an official CBG agent.

The beginning of the year was also synonymous with promotions in the CBG. As such, Kyungsoo was due to promotion to upper junior rank, a step from his lower junior rank. Chanyeol himself too was due for promotion to upper senior rank, the highest rank attainable by a field agent before moving into the managerial ranks.

If Chanyeol passed his evaluation, he would be the same as rank as Minseok and the only other person ranked higher than him within the division would be Junmyeon, a 3rd class professional.

Above that, the ranks are 2nd class professional, 1st class professional, Deputy Commissioner and finally the Commissioner-General of the CBG whose office is currently held by Byun Baekhyun.

All of those who held the rank of 2nd rank professionals and above were part of the board of directors of the CBG. The CBG employed over 10,000 Gifteds throughout the country but only less than a hundred of them were in the board of directors, evidently showing that climbing through the ranks was extremely difficult and that there were lesser high-ranked agents compared to lower-ranked agents.

More often, if not always, those on the board of directors had abilities that were deemed extremely useful which allowed them speedy promotions much like what Chanyeol and Jongin experienced.

But until now, it continued to be a mystery as to how someone in Chanyeol’s rank was able to attend director meetings even it was still below his pay grade. To those who knew about it, they suspected it to be because Chanyeol was one of the “tailored” Gifteds who were specially bred and born to be of service of the CBG.

Kyungsoo’s promotion evaluation was conducted in several stages. He had passed the first stage which was the written exam. Passing that, he now proceeded to the second stage, which was the physical exam.

The physical exam was held on the second Monday of January in the headquarters’ gymnasium with at least seventy other agents who were of Kyungsoo’s rank or around there, as lower rank evaluations tend to be done at one go.

On the contrary, higher rank evaluations had fewer candidates and were conducted in the upper floors of the headquarters buildings and generally took longer.

Firstly, Kyungsoo had to get through the usual requirements such as running, climbing steps and lifting weights where he had to complete it all within a certain minimum threshold and no use of abilities was allowed during the testing.

After he passed all of that, Kyungsoo proceeded to the third stage of the exam which was held individually or grouped if there were other Gifteds with similar abilities.

Since telekinesis was actually a fairly common ability, Kyungsoo was grouped with two others whose ability was similar to that of his.

The other two agents were also both male, one a similar rank with Kyungsoo and the other whose rank was one higher.

Kyungsoo and the other agent, who had a bowl cut and appeared fresh out of the academy, waited at the back of a small arena whose layout was similar to that of a basketball court with high ceilings.

They watched the agent ranked higher than them being instructed to use his abilities to push, pull and levitate several blocks of cement with its weight painted on the sides, ranging from 10kg to 1000kg.

The agent ranked higher than Kyungsoo started to struggle and overexert at around 200kg and could not even lift the 300kg cement block at all. The passing requirement for his rank was lifting 200kg at 2 meters high and he still passed to move on to the last stage, the interview, although it meant he could only be promoted one rank higher at most.

After his turn, it was then Kyungsoo’s. The other agent younger than him wished him good luck before Kyungsoo stepped forward and Kyungsoo lowly thanked him.

Dressed in gym shorts and a plain white cotton shirt, Kyungsoo waited as the instructor read him the rules and regulations. Kyungsoo replied with an audible “I understand” for the formality and waited for the cue to start.

Two instructors were observing and overseeing the test that day. The male instructor introduced himself as Park Junsu and the female instructor as Ahn Heeyeon. Kyungsoo had seen them around, mostly at the research facility or at the academy. They were always seen together but the female instructor with long ashen hair seemed oddly recognizable.

Lifting the 10kg weight at a height of 0.25 meters was way too easy for Kyungsoo, akin to lifting a feather. Little effort was needed for the 50kg weight at a height of 0.5 meters and Kyungsoo only started putting some effort into the 100kg weight at a height of 1m.

The 200kg weight at 2 meters needed a considerable amount of effort. Kyungsoo only found it challenging for the 300kg weight at 3 meters but still managed to carry it out without much problem.

Kyungsoo was satisfied enough though. He had done more than what was required and planned to stop there when Heeyeon spoke up.

“Think you could try the 400kg weight at 4 meters?” Heeyeon spoke, looking up from the clipboard in her hand.

“I don’t plan to continue further with the assessment,” Kyungsoo explained, turning behind to look at her direction, where Kyungsoo saw Heeyeon speaking lowly to Junsu.

“Why not?” Heeyeon clicked her tongue, pulling and snapping on the clip on her clipboard while she looked towards Kyungsoo’s direction, “You can do it, can you? Don’t you want to be promoted fast? I know you can do it.”

“Ah…I really don’t want to-,” Kyungsoo attempted to refuse before she cut him off again.

“You did it years ago. I saw you almost rip off a building weighing tons from its foundation. 400kg shouldn’t be a problem now. Why can’t you do it now? Did Chanyeol limit your powers too much from going out of control?” Heeyeon threw a sharp glare at Kyungsoo while her partner Junsu remained quiet, standing beside her.

Then, all the dots connected. Heeyeon and Junsu were the same instructors who had conducted a similar test on Kyungsoo when he was first inducted into the CBG almost seven years ago. No wonder they seemed oddly familiar, especially Heeyeon, as she was the one who told Kyungsoo to risk so many lives just for the sake of her “research”.

That was from a time when Kyungsoo had no control over the output of his abilities and thus risked going amok and hurting people. If it weren’t for Chanyeol being there that day almost seven years ago, Kyungsoo knew he would have definitely been thrown into prison for it while Heeyeon got to walk off scot-free.

Today, even though Kyungsoo was aware that the output of his abilities didn’t match a similar level to that of before, he was more than content with his abilities being under control no thanks to the years of training he had with Chanyeol.

“No!” Kyungsoo firmly exclaimed this time, standing his ground.

“Do we have a problem here?” Heeyeon asked as if to exert her authority against Kyungsoo.

“Absolutely not, _ma'am_ ,” Kyungsoo sarcastically answered, visibly irritated.

“My, my, what attitude. Clearly, you’re not fit for this promotion if you can’t behave. Agents represent the CBG and I’m not sure if someone like you is fit to represent us,” Heeyeon side-eyed her partner and lifted her pen, threateningly showing off that she was about to dock Kyungsoo’s marks off. She cleared her throat and reiterated, “I’ll give you one more chance despite your attitude. Either you apologize to me and then carry out what you’re told to or I’ll fail you on this exam.”

Kyungsoo decided right there and then that he had enough of his indecisiveness and how it had affected several events in his life. It’s not as if he was powerless. There were actually things he could do to change things. After all, he was a Gifted.

In a split second, Kyungsoo utilized his ability to pull Heeyeon’s and Junsu’s clipboard and pen from their hands before crushing it into dust with the energy concentrated in his palms.

Heeyeon was slightly startled but she started snickering after that. Junsu seemed to be saying something to her now.

Annoyed by her nonchalant reaction, Kyungsoo looked over his shoulder at the 400kg weight and turned back to her, “I’ll show you what you want.”

Kyungsoo stretched his arm out towards the 400kg weight and fueled by his anger, almost effortlessly lifted it into the air until it almost hit the ceiling which was more than 10 meters high.

Heeyeon started laughing even harder and clapped her hands as she tilted her head up to observe the spectacle.

Further annoyed by her behavior, Kyungsoo was about to slam down the cement block onto her when he realized what he was going to do. Instead, Kyungsoo slammed the block into a wall, which left a loud sound and vibration in the walls that caused the other agent in the room to run and hide.

Without haste, Kyungsoo turned around and stomped out from the arena, abandoning the test.

Heeyeon folded her arms over her chest, smirking as she looked at the cement block embedded in the now cracked and damaged wall, “He passes. I want to see how far he can take this. We have a lot of use for him.”

“We’ll just arrange for your test another day,” Junsu sighed, addressing the other agent hiding in a corner.

After Kyungsoo bailed out from the test, he stomped off all the way to his locker room, walking past quite a lot of agents waiting outside rooms or exam halls for their assessments.

Some people did notice Kyungsoo being visibly angry as he made his way to the locker room, which scared off those who might have wanted to ask him what was going on. It was common to see furious agents during assessment week, after all.

Kyungsoo quickly got dressed in the locker room and made sure not to forget his phone and wallet too. Before he forgot, Kyungsoo furiously snatched his ID card hanging by its strap on a hook in the locker. He didn’t feel like taking it but he still needed to get past security to leave the building.

Kyungsoo didn’t bother wearing the ID card though, he just grasped it by the strap in his balled-up fist.

Kyungsoo then made his way down with the elevator to the lobby of the building which was busy at this time of the day with agents and even civilians coming to and from the headquarters for any matter they needed to do there.

The lobby was at least two to stories high with large glass walls that spanned from floor-to-ceiling. Even with all the natural light that came in through the glass, the lobby was still adequately lit and the shiny tiled floors reflected the light, even more, leaving the lobby to feel even more spacious than it already was. The large CBG emblem which had the South Korean flag colors inscribed within a circle flanked by two snakes was emblazoned on the wall directly behind the reception counters one would first see when entering the building.

Everything about the building, even its front main lobby, felt normal and perhaps even inviting. But Kyungsoo now realized how something sinister could be hiding behind such a facade. Everything is not what it appeared to be. But when has it ever been?

After passing security clearance, Kyungsoo left the headquarters building and started walking down the street with no certain destination in mind. All he wanted was to get away from there, from the CBG.

It was already snowing lightly when Kyungsoo stepped outside. It was only late afternoon but the sun was already beginning to set, leaving orange streaks in the purple sky.

On the footbridge over a busy traffic intersection just a few blocks from the headquarters, Chanyeol finally managed to catch up with Kyungsoo.

“Kyungsoo!” Chanyeol yelled out on the deserted and uncovered footbridge, where snow fell and the sun could be seen sinking towards the horizon in the distance.

Kyungsoo gasped, having forgotten completely about Chanyeol as he rapidly turned around, only then also realizing that he had still been grasping his ID card by the strap the entire time.

“hyung…,” Kyungsoo heaved, his warm breath forming mist in the cold air around him as the snow continued to fall even more.

“Kyungsoo…I heard what happened. Where are you going?” Chanyeol asked, exasperatedly, with worry obviously planted on his face.

Kyungsoo found himself at a loss for words because he too had no idea where he was taking all this. Kyungsoo could only shake his head in silence.

Chanyeol stretched out his hand towards Kyungsoo, “Come on, let’s go back. I’ll help you take care of this with the higher-ups. They’re upset with your misconduct but you should be alright with me. I can handle this. Come on, Kyungsoo. It's cold out here. Aren't you hungry? We'll go back, talk this through and get something to eat, alright? I don’t want you to get hurt. I love you.”

Kyungsoo gulped, tears forming and stinging his eyes, especially in the cold. Kyungsoo first took that hand Chanyeol offered to him years ago and it had been one of the best decisions he ever made in his life, even if it meant being affiliated with the CBG he had come to distrust today.

Knowing warmth, love, security, and reassurance waited for him should he take Chanyeol’s hand, Kyungsoo was so tempted to do it again.

Kyungsoo slowly reached his hand out towards Chanyeol, who started easing up and even sighed in relief when he did so.

However, Chanyeol’s brief moment of ease was cut short when Kyungsoo dropped his ID card onto Chanyeol’s palm before pulling his arm back.

Kyungsoo loved Chanyeol too but he could not do it again because Kyungsoo would not be able to live with himself if he turned a blind eye to something he had the power to change.

There was something Kyungsoo absolutely needed to do now and unfortunately, staying with Chanyeol wasn’t an option if he chose this path.

It was not that Kyungsoo decided his goals were more important than Chanyeol. This was the best option to make sure Chanyeol was safe in the hands of the CBG. Chanyeol would probably not understand but Kyungsoo was fine with that, as long as Chanyeol was safe.

“I’m sorry, hyung,” Kyungsoo apologized, “I’m leaving. It has nothing to do with you but I don’t think I can work with the CBG anymore. I don’t know if I’ll ever come home. Please forget me and don’t come to look for me either. Thank you for everything you’ve done for me. I loved you then, now and I will continue to love you even in a different life.”

Chanyeol could only stare in shock at the ID card Kyungsoo had ended back to him in his gloved hand. When Chanyeol looked up back again, he could only see the figure of Kyungsoo’s back slowly leaving him from behind the tears in his eyes.

Chanyeol didn’t know why he was unable to chase after Kyungsoo. Maybe, a small part in him, actually wanted Kyungsoo to be free, wanted Kyungsoo to make the choice he never had the opportunity to make.


	7. What we submit to

Over the next few weeks, Kyungsoo stayed in cheap inns or hotels in the more impoverished districts of the city while he searched for Soojung and Xuanyi with the main goal to help them escape South Korea.

As a now-former CBG agent, Kyungsoo had a gist of where unregistered Gifteds often frequented or resided at since it was his job to track them down.

They were always in the poorer parts of the city where crime rates and social issues were high, not that was surprising considering how society discriminated and denied them the opportunity of social mobility.

In fact, at one time, Kyungsoo was a part of this “lower class” of society after his father abandoned the family and left Kyungsoo and his mother to fend for themselves.

Kyungsoo managed to bribe some delinquent teenagers into giving him information on the location of some unregistered Gifteds, thinking that he could eventually trace Soojung and Xuanyi from there by asking around.

By hiding his prior involvement with the CBG and him being a Gifted himself too, Kyungsoo was able to win the trust of the unregistered Gifteds and led down a trail to their whereabouts.

The trail led Kyungsoo all the way to Incheon, an hour away from Seoul. There, in an abandoned industrial zone that was once a shipyard, supposedly lived a group of ragtag Gifteds who were either unregistered or registered but had committed crimes or anything to displease the CBG.

By the time Kyungsoo arrived in Incheon, it was the end of January. Two and a half weeks since he left the CBG and last heard from Chanyeol. Kyungsoo’s birthday was some time in between that but he had completely forgotten about it. Honestly, Kyungsoo was a bit surprised as to why the CBG had yet to send someone after him for his defection.

Kyungsoo had a feeling Chanyeol was pulling some strings up there to possibly buy Kyungsoo some time, even though Chanyeol had probably no idea what Kyungsoo was up to. He simply trusted and had faith.

It was night time when Kyungsoo arrived outside the abandoned warehouses of the shipyard. Under some old, creaking and rusty scaffolding, Kyungsoo was greeted by a young adult male around his age with rather long and shaggy black hair.

The man introduced himself as Yuta before addressing Kyungsoo, “I’ve heard from my connections in Seoul that you were coming. Said you are a Gifted with telekinetic powers and that you’re here to look for two women.”

“Yes, I was told that Soojung and Xuanyi would be here,” Kyungsoo replied, “If they’re here, can you tell that Kyungsoo is here for them. Tell them I was sent here by their friend, Lay. They should know who I am.”

“Yeah, and what if they don’t? How do I know I can trust you? What is your goal being here anyway? How do I know the CBG didn’t send you here?” Yuta questioned.

“I am not with the CBG. If you don’t believe me, you could check the perimeter and do a full-body search. I can assure you I came here alone. Besides, they should remember who I am,” Kyungsoo claimed, “I am here to help them leave this country. I am a friend of their friend- or rather was. You should know that they are both being pursued by the CBG for being involved with the stadium incident last year. That’s why I need you to get me in touch with them. They need to leave as soon as possible. Their life is in danger if they stay here any longer.”

“I know,” Yuta affirmed, “Don’t you have any idea what I do?”

“No, what?” Kyungsoo was baffled.

“Haven’t you figured it out from my name alone?” Yuta snickered, “I am Japanese. I am not a Gifted so it’s easy for me to travel here and there. I’m not here in this rundown shipyard because I like it. It’s because it’s right near the sea. I help smuggle Gifteds from Korea and even China into Japan. Not like it’s any better there but at least the government isn’t out to imprison the Gifteds for the smallest misconduct.”

“Why are you trusting me with all this information?” Kyungsoo seemed puzzled.

“Well, you’re good,” Yuta shrugged, whistling in a certain pattern as if in code.

Just right after that, Kyungsoo began to hear rustling and stepping sounds, revealing at least three other people heavily clad in dark winter clothes who had been hiding behind the debris and junk left behind in the shipyard.

These people approached Yuta, standing slightly behind him, their face obscured by gas masks.

“These are my guards you can say. They’re Gifteds too and some of them can read the emotions and intentions of others. If you came here with ill intentions, they would have taken you down. Since they haven’t, I know I can trust you,” Yuta explained.

Kyungsoo sighed in relief, half-thinking that he’d have to fight them off, being reluctant to engage anyone for that matter in combat.

Yuta looked over his shoulder at a certain person behind him and addressed them, “You can take him to Soojung if you want.”

Promptly, this person pulled her mask off, revealing herself to be Xuanyi.

“Xuanyi!” Kyungsoo exclaimed, jolting up in his standing position.

Among all the other children living with Yixing and Soojung, Xuanyi was the oldest. She was around sixteen to eighteen years when Kyungsoo last met her, now a year older and easily passing off as a young adult.

Among all the others too, Kyungsoo interacted with her the least because she was often studying or working part-time when Kyungsoo had come around their former apartment.

“Soojung unnie is inside. We knew you were coming,” Xuanyi replied, looking down at the mask instead of at Kyungsoo.

“Okay, let me see her, please. I really need to talk to her. I need to get you two out of here,” Kyungsoo quickly mentioned.

“We are fine actually even without you,” Xuanyi now looked back up to face Kyungsoo. Clearly, she looked very shaken and disturbed by all that had happened, “That’s why we came here. We’re safe here. We just need to work for Yuta for a while until we raise enough money to pay for our passage to Japan.”

“That’s true,” Yuta chimed in, “Come the end of March, Soojung, and Xuanyi would have made enough money to go to Japan. Xuanyi’s been doing a good job as my guard and Soojung has been taking care of our meals and laundry in return. I’ve even them a discount and expedited things for them.”

“I understand. It’s your business as a smuggler,” Kyungsoo hasted, “I just need to talk to Soojung. I’ll pay all of their remaining debts if you do what I say.”

“Fine,” Yuta folded his arms over his chest, addressing Xuanyi, “Take him to Soojung.”

Xuanyi nodded in affirmation and muttered to Kyungsoo, “Here, follow me.”

Kyungsoo did as he was told and followed Xuanyi down the abandoned warehouse, where the only source of lights was scattered battery-powered lanterns placed here and there hanging from old steel beams.

Kyungsoo followed Xuanyi down a narrow alleyway which was made by shipping containers stacked on top of each other. At the end, of the container alleyway was another brick red colored container with an opaque white plastic sheet hanging over the entrance.

Xuanyi pulled open the plastic sheet and called out, “Unnie, he’s here.”

Kyungsoo only followed inside after Xuanyi. The shipping container was lit by only one fluorescent lamp that didn’t seem too bright either. There was an old and beat-up couch in one corner of the container, heaps of clothes in used cardboard boxes beside it alongside more clothes hanging from hangers on a line that was set up along the wall of the container. A space heater was in one corner, keeping the place somewhat warm.

At the other end of the container was Soojung, standing beside a cheap electric cooker atop a table with several pots and pans on the table too. There also seemed to be a small ventilation fan built into one of the walls, presumably to keep out the smoke from cooking. 

Soojung was standing and already facing Kyungsoo when he walked in, wiping her hands on a cloth she later threw to the table.

“I thought I’d never see you again,” Soojung commented, a bit bluntly.

“Soojung…I’m sorry. I-,” Kyungsoo decided at the last second to not call her by the “noona” honorific, upon realizing that he actually did not how old she was, as she didn’t seem too much older than Xuanyi either.

Instead, Soojung turned to Xuanyi, “You can go back to work. Yuta is probably looking for you. I’ll talk to Kyungsoo alone.”

“I will,” Xuanyi abided, bowing to Soojung and brushing past Kyungsoo before leaving the container.

“So what brings you here? I’ve heard from some of Yuta’s men scattered around Seoul and Incheon that you’ve been looking for me and Xuanyi,” Soojung pointed out, her hands on her hips.

“I saw you two last month in Seoul somewhere near a subway station. I suppose you saw the CBG van parked on the road and turned away because I tried pursuing you two but could not catch up,” Kyungsoo informed, “Also, I met Lay- I mean Yixing hyung. He’s currently being held in the Gifted Detention Center and he pleaded to me to find and help you and Xuanyi.”

Soojung sighed, looking to the floor of the container and her worn-out sneakers, “So, how is he? Yixing. Not good I assume since he’s imprisoned now. I know those are basically life sentences and that there’s no such thing as paroles or release on good behavior.”

“It practically as,” Kyungsoo had to tell the harsh truth, “He looks…tired. He really feels bad for what he’s done and even then, he made it a priority to ask me for help to look for you two.”

“I see. He was too desperate. He never wanted to hurt any of us but he took the risks and gambled with it,” Soojung accepted, still grieving over the losses, “So I guess if you’re here for us, you don’t work for the CBG anymore?”

“Yeah, I left a few weeks ago. I don’t work for them anymore,” Kyungsoo revealed, only able to think of Chanyeol when he said so.

“Why are you helping us anyway? What’s in it for you?” Soojung questioned, “Where are you going to go now that you left the CBG? You know they won’t take that too. I’m a non-Gifted so worst-case scenario, I get thrown into a regular prison and maybe have a chance of a pardon. You? I don’t think so.”

“I don’t know. Maybe I’ll go look for my family or something,” Kyungsoo sighed, “But this isn’t about me. You need not worry about me. I’m here to help you two get to Japan.”

“Suits you then. I can’t be choosy while I still have Xuanyi under my care,” Soojung reasoned, “If you really want to help us, then you can either find a way for us to get to Japan or pay off our debt with Yuta so we can leave on the next ship.”

“How much is it?” Kyungsoo stood up straighter.

“5 million won total for both Xuanyi and me,” Soojung answered.

“That’s not much. I have that money in cash!” Kyungsoo remarked.

“For you, maybe. Xuanyi and I could live for months with that amount,” Soojung attested.

“Not really. That’s half of all the money I have,” Kyungsoo informed, “I withdrew all my savings from the bank when I left the CBG. I can go get in from the safe at the inn I’m staying at. I will go get it now and pay it to Yuta. When does the next ship leave?”

“The ship Yuta uses to smuggle people into Japan arrives and leaves once a week on Friday. It’s actually a fishing boat and he bribes the captain to hide people under the deck,” Soojung told, “So, two days from now.”

“Good. I’ll go get the money now. Tell that Yuta guy to wait,” Kyungsoo swung the other end of his scarf over his shoulder and had turned around to leave when Soojung called out to him once more.

Soojung’s voice dropped when she asked, “Why though? You haven’t answered me. Are you only doing this because of a promise you made with Yixing?”.

“Maybe,” Kyungsoo glanced over his shoulder at Soojung, “Or I just want my peace. I know I’ll never be free so at least, I can help others find their freedom. That’s all.”

**

It was wishful thinking on Kyungsoo’s part to think that he was safe for the past two and a half weeks from repercussions by the CBG since he left. In reality, while Chanyeol did buy him enough time, Kyungsoo was only able to do what he did because the CBG simply “let him”- for a reason that would benefit them of course.

Chanyeol wasn’t deaf. He clearly heard Yixing begging Kyungsoo for help to search for Soojung and Xuanyi, that day in the interrogation room. Chanyeol just didn’t want to talk about it, not wanting to burden Kyungsoo anymore with the responsibility; clearly knowing Kyungsoo would be at unrest unless he did something about it.

So when Kyungsoo left him high-strung on that snowy day, Chanyeol knew what Kyungsoo would do.

To buy Kyungsoo time, Chanyeol cleared all of Kyungsoo’s allotted fifteen days of annual leave by applying it in place of Kyungsoo to give the illusion that he had gone on break. For the first few days, no one questioned it but eventually, someone in the upper ranks did hear about Kyungsoo’s outburst during the promotion exam and the word got around.

Chanyeol knew that his plans had been blown the moment when he received a memo to meet Baekhyun personally, just barely four days since Kyungsoo left.

At close to one in the morning on a Sunday, Chanyeol found himself in the empty directors’ board room on the 46th floor of the CBG headquarters building.

Chanyeol often sat here at one of the chairs surrounding a large oval table made of oak wood that could fit tens of people at the same time. But he was usually there for meetings when other people were in attendance. That day, it was just him and two others.

To his back was the grand fireplace that adorned the board room. Although modern central heating was used for the building, the fireplace was fully functional mainly for aesthetic purposes that Baekhyun preferred. All the other lights in the room were dimmed, leaving the bright glow of the hearth to illuminate the room.

As the fire cracked and burned in the fireplace, Chanyeol had his fingers linked to each other and placed on the table in front of him.

All the other chairs were empty, save for the one directly opposite him where Kim Jongdae, the second-in-command of the CBG after Baekhyun- sat. Jongdae was dressed in a red suit, befitting of someone of his high rank.

Chanyeol did not dare make eye contact with Jongdae while Baekhyun stood behind Chanyeol’s chair, with his hands in the pockets of his trousers and facing the fireplace to his side.

As always, Baekhyun was dressed in a black suit that matched his jet black hair, fitting his nickname of being a “vampire”. At this point, he looked even younger than Chanyeol despite being much older than the latter. 

“I will ask you once more,” Baekhyun continued to question, eerily calm, “Where is Kyungsoo?”

“I said I do not know,” Chanyeol continued to affirm, trying to sound as stable as possible, “I have no idea where he is. Yes, I helped him escape but I do not where he went.”

Baekhyun when silent for a while as he paced back and forth behind Chanyeol in front of the fireplace, “You are aware that Kyungsoo is an asset to us, don’t you? Yes, his powers are common but there is none who can surpass his level of telekinesis. At fourteen, he could lift a building. He could probably lift an entire city today. There’s a reason why I assigned him personally to you. You were supposed to watch over him, to stabilize his powers and encourage his growth. And you failed to keep him here. I had faith in you, Chanyeol. Where else are we going to find someone of his capabilities?”

“He’s not a child anymore!” Chanyeol defended, “He’s an adult and he can do what he wants. I don’t have to constantly treat him like a child and make him tell me where he is, what he’s doing or who he is with constantly!”

“That is only somewhat true to a certain extent,” Baekhyun corrected, “He is a Gifted under us, the CBG. He can do what he wants as long as we say he can. He can go where he wants as long as we say he can. You’ve lived by these rules all your life. How hard was it for you to enforce on him too?”

Chanyeol did not answer that question. Instead, he gritted his teeth and balled up his fist, restraining himself from saying something he might regret especially in the presence of two of the most senior CBG agents.

Baekhyun continued, “He will abide by our rules if he wishes to have any chance of a decent life. Since he’s an adult now, he will bear the full repercussions of his actions and be held accountable for his mistakes.”

The man in the red suit opposite of Chanyeol continued to watch both of them in silence.

Upon hearing that, Chanyeol froze, before a wave of adrenaline and panic rushed through him. Chanyeol quickly stood up from his sitting position, pushing the chair back until he was face to face with Baekhyun.

“What are you going to do with him?” Chanyeol dreadfully asked, fear evident in his eyes.

“I don’t know. I haven’t thought of it. It would be a shame to dispose of him but he needs to learn that just because he’s valuable to us, does not mean he can break the rules as he sees fit,” Baekhyun answered, placidly.

“No! You can’t do that!” Chanyeol pleaded, brokenhearted.

“He broke our rules and did a severe action by defecting from the CBG without our permission. That is an extreme breach of trust, information and possibly even security. We cannot risk tolerating such behavior in this organization,” Baekhyun stated.

“No! No! This is my fault. Please, let me accept the punishment. Not Kyungsoo. Please don’t hurt him. I love him. Father, please,” Chanyeol begged, almost ready to prostrate himself fully in front of Baekhyun should he need to.

Baekhyun was quiet for a while, pondering in thought before averting his gaze back to Chanyeol, “You haven’t called me that in a while. I was beginning to think that maybe you perhaps forgot that you came from my seed.”

“No, I haven’t forgotten. I could never-,” Chanyeol shook his head, forcing himself to calm down in such a situation if he wished to gain a bargaining spot.

“Your mother didn’t cry when she was in this position too. You’re strong like her,” Baekhyun recalled, smiling to himself, “-except that she was bargaining for herself instead of someone else like you are.”

The comment left Chanyeol feeling furious and scared all at the same time but he was powerless to stop it. For now at least. Although Chanyeol had barely any form of attachment to his biological parents, he was still deeply affected by their words and actions- or lack thereof.

“You know what?” Baekhyun walked up to Chanyeol, patting him on the shoulder, “You’ve been a good son and I suppose that as a father, I should reward you from time to time. After all, if I’m expecting you to take over me one day, I should try to be in your favor. I’ll do this for you only because you are my son. I can’t promise Kyungsoo won’t be hurt but we’ll have to recondition him to become subservient to us, to become our perfect soldier. You still get to be with him or whatever but he’ll submit to us before that happens. In return, you just need to help lead us to him. He trusts you and he’ll listen if it’s you. You can do that, can you? So, will you help us?”

Chanyeol took a deep breath and despite so, he still did feel the figurative ominous lump in his chest setting him down in him heavily.

Right now, Chanyeol was given the choice to make a decision for Kyungsoo but the options weren’t that favorable whichever route he went down with. Chanyeol wasn't given the luxury of time to decide either as he had to answer it now.

Right there and then, he had to make an extremely important decision to possibly alter Kyungsoo’s life for the rest of his years. It was ironic how Chanyeol, someone who was never allowed to make decisions for his own life and was now forced to do so for someone else. And the person who so badly wanted to make his own decisions was now going to face a fate someone else chose for him.

Chanyeol could choose to not cooperate and the CBG would forcibly hunt Kyungsoo with all the Gifteds they could who specialize in tracking and hunting. There was a possibility Kyungsoo would escape his way to freedom, however, there was also a possibility of Kyungsoo being captured and tortured to be made an example of for further deserters.

On the other hand, Chanyeol could choose to cooperate and Kyungsoo could be brought in and only be made to undergo reconditioning before he was deemed to fit to serve the CBG again. It wasn’t the best option either for someone like Kyungsoo who desired his freedom because this path would only further severely limit that.

Chanyeol knew exactly well how Kyungsoo desired his freedom and there was nothing Chanyeol wanted more than to grant it to him. But Chanyeol was also well aware of matters such as the risk at hand.

Whatever it was, the system was too strong and he was in no position to be dismantling it. Not now at least.

If there was a person who could ultimately defeat this system, it was probably someone like Kyungsoo. And even then, Kyungsoo was probably not ready for it yet.

Therefore, Chanyeol was forced to make a difficult and possibly even selfish decision.

**

For the next few days, Kyungsoo stayed in one of the modified shipping containers at the abandoned shipyard. He slept on an old and worn-out sleeping mat that many Gifteds had used prior to him, while they were in transit before being smuggled out of the country.

Yuta did not allow Kyungsoo to walk around outside while he was there for fear of him being spotted and tracked down by the CBG. Therefore, instead, Kyungsoo spent most of his time helping Soojung with the cooking and laundry work that she did for Yuta and the other Gifteds under him.

Kyungsoo had planned to stay there until he made sure that Soojung and Xuanyi safely left the country, after paying off the entirety of their debts with a little bit of money for himself left.

Kyungsoo even had half the thought to raise more money for himself to possibly be smuggled out of South Korea to Japan at a later date, slightly enthused by the fact that he now knew of a way to leave the country too. Maybe, he could use this opportunity to search for his mother who went overseas and be reunited with her.

Early morning on Friday, before the sunrise and while it was still dark outside, the fishing boat arrived as scheduled on the docks. It had been a cloudy night with the moon and stars completely obscured by the clouds, leaving behind a pitch-black sky.

It was a quiet morning. The air was still and cold. The waves in the water were small and the 40 meters long fishing vessel barely rocked in the water near the dock where it made port. The fishing vessel was manned by a captain and at least four other crew members.

In the darkness before dawn, only illuminated by lights from the fishing boat, Yuta counted stacks of money before handing it over to the Japanese fisherman who then counted the money before confirming that the fee for the passage was correct and paid for.

This time, it was just Soojung and Xuanyi and a few crate boxes who were to be smuggled into Japan. Kyungsoo didn’t question what was in the crate boxes but it was safe to assume to be contraband items.

Soojung and Xuanyi were dressed in black clothing, just enough for them to stay warm in the weather and wore black beanies over their heads, carrying a backpack each as it was what they were only allowed to bring with them.

“Thank you,” Soojung rasped, her voice a bit hoarse from the cold, before hugging Kyungsoo goodbye one last time at the docks.

“Be safe. Take care of yourself,” Kyungsoo returned, hugging her back before pulling away and turning to Xuanyi beside Soojung.

Xuanyi did not approach Kyungsoo. She was more distant towards Kyungsoo but she was still grateful nonetheless.

Xuanyi bowed her head and spoke, “Thank you very much for everything you’ve done. I wish you all the best.”

“You too. Take care of each other, alright?” Kyungsoo smiled a little, a bit melancholic when realizing that this might be their last time seeing each other.

“Where are you going to go after this?” Soojung asked once more, “What will you do?”

“I still don’t have the exact answer for that. Maybe I’ll leave the country too eventually but I’m not ready for that yet. I still feel that I need to be here for some reasons. I’ll think of it as I go along,” Kyungsoo answered, at least confident that he didn’t actually had an exact plan cutout.

“Well the-,” Soojung attempted to say before she was cut off by one of the fishermen telling her that they had to leave now.

With that, Soojung bade Kyungsoo goodbye one more time and held onto Xuanyi’s arm as they boarded the ship, preparing to leave.

Kyungsoo said his goodbyes once more and even wanted to wave back to them before deciding against so and kept his hands in his pockets.

Kyungsoo turned around to look behind while Yuta and his men were still on the dock discussing and arranging matters with the captain of the fishermen.

Just then, a rush of wind blew through from land and moving out to sea. The rush of air was cold but yet still warmer than the still winter air.

Kyungsoo stared off into the darkness that still shrouded the atmosphere of the early morning. The surroundings of the abandoned shipyard were littered with containers, blocks of cement, scaffolding and other forms of construction debris.

There was seemingly nothing else but that in sight. But still, everything seemed too easy and Kyungsoo was suspicious. Feeling uneasy, Kyungsoo had to look back one more time towards the ship where he could still somewhat make out the figures of Soojung, Xuanyi and the some of the smuggler fishermen.

Right there and then, Kyungsoo knew something was absolutely wrong.

“Get down!” Kyungsoo yelled in the direction towards the ship as another wind blew through, disrupting the previously still air.

Barely seconds after that, Kyungsoo heard the voice of a woman shrieking. In panic, Kyungsoo propelled himself with his ability to jump onto the boat and land on the deck, where he witnessed Soojung in complete shook as she trembled at the sight of what was near her feet.

Kyungsoo looked to Soojung’s feet to find Xuanyi dead with blood pooling from her head, her head shattered in places and bits of her brain scattered on the deck of this ship.

It had happened again. Kyungsoo didn’t even need to stop to think and speculate why or how this was happening.

Without delaying any further. Kyungsoo put out his hand and directed all his energy into pushing the ship away from the dock, using his ability to sail it out into the ocean. The ship was easily tens of tons in weight but Kyungsoo’s abilities were at its peak at a time like this.

He didn’t care if the crew weren’t ready or whatever deal Yuta had with them was still unfulfilled. Xuanyi was very much likely dead but Soojung wasn’t and he still kept onto the self promise that he would see at least one of them to safety.

Kyungsoo was planning to steer this fishing vessel all the way to the other side of the world if he had to.

The crew that was on the ship was puzzled at first when the ship began moving on its own but when they realized Xuanyi had been killed, they knew that they were in trouble with enforcement and had to get out of there immediately.

As they took control of the ship to sail faster out of there, Kyungsoo was once more met with the horror of seeing Chanyeol looking back at him from the dock, appearing utterly confused as much as he was as an even stronger wind continued to blow.

CBG agents had stormed the dock and were now arresting or in pursuit of Yuta and the rest of the Gifted there. Chanyeol was among them, dressed in the blue uniform jacket of the CBG.

“What are you doing here?” Kyungsoo muttered to himself in despair.

Then, the ship abruptly stopped, jerking and pushing everyone off balance due to the sudden change in inertia. Even with Kyungsoo’s ability, they were seemingly stopped by something.

Kyungsoo was almost sent falling face flat onto the bloody deck but managed to catch himself and a crying Soojung before losing their balance.

The crew was heard scuffling in confusion and panic too as they attempted to retake control of the ship since they had barely even made any significant distance from the dock. At most, they were probably still only 20 meters from the dock as everything had happened too fast in a short amount of time.

Kyungsoo whipped his head to see what was wrong and saw that a large translucent force field near the bow of the ship was preventing them from moving.

Kyungsoo’s recognized Sehun’s ability and suspected that the electrical systems aboard the ship failing because of Jongin. He didn’t have to turn to look at the dock to know that they would be there, controlling everything, as was Minseok who was probably camping with his sniper rifle on top of a building kilometers away.

Instantly, Kyungsoo knew that he’d have to go against more of his fellow co-workers and fellows Gifteds from the CBG. And that the ship and the crew and Soojung aboard would never stand the chance.

Kyungsoo took one last look at Soojung. Knowing he could no longer offer her any more words of assurance and as his final act of valor for something he should have done a long time ago, Kyungsoo propelled himself once more with his ability but to return back to the dock.

Where he landed just a few feet in front of Chanyeol.

Kyungsoo put out his dominant hand, his right hand, towards the direction of the ship on the water and continued to use his ability to resist Sehun’s force field and push the ship far enough to escape from Jongin’s ability to enable the crew to regain control again.

“You have to stop,” Chanyeol ordered, although it came off more as a plea for Kyungsoo’s sake.

“No, hyung. I have to do this,” Kyungsoo firmly stood his ground, continuing to push the ship even harder until it was enough to shatter Sehun’s force field.

“Please, stop. Don’t make this any worse than it already is,” Chanyeol reiterated, pulling out his gun from his gun belt with both hands and pointing it right at Kyungsoo. If anything, it was Chanyeol who was more bothered by the fact that he had to point a gun at Kyungsoo.

Clearly, Chanyeol knew what his orders were. A Gifted such as him with a non-offensive ability was not sent out to the frontlines until the situation was under control.

The only reason he was sent out there was to take control of and detain Kyungsoo, the main objective of the mission at hand. Capturing the other Gifteds and stopping the attempt to leave the country was just secondary and killing two birds with one stone.

Sehun’s force field was shattered and he had to conjure more shields to stop Kyungsoo from forcibly pushing the ship further out to sea. A few agents attempted to board the ship and Kyungsoo too threw them off with his ability, pushing them back onto land or into the icy water.

When other agents attempted to jump Kyungsoo to stop him, he repelled all of them with his ability, leaving them suspended in mid-air meters above the ground.

Kyungsoo was just one person but yet he was going against at least a dozen others Gifteds. It was clear why the CBG wanted him so badly and even deemed him an “asset”.

It didn’t just stop there. Kyungsoo not only lifted and suspended everyone around him in mid-air. Even all the extremely heavy containers, steel structures and cement blocks scattered around the landscape were lifted into the air, defying gravity. The roof of the abandoned shipyard was coming apart, the zinc material shredding and ripping apart as the buildings began to shake and were being ripped off their foundation.

Soon enough, even the water began to rise and the cement structure of the dock began to crumble apart. Every particle within the radius was now within the control of Kyungsoo’s telekinetic ability.

Chanyeol, himself, was lifted in the air several meters above the ground. Somehow, Chanyeol was still able to hold onto his gun by gripping onto it tightly before it flew out of his hand too like everything else around him.

He could move around laterally but only about the fixed position where he was in the air. He couldn’t even jump down to the ground if he tried to because the dock was now crumbling into rubble into the water.

Kyungsoo had managed to keep himself afloat with his ability, seeming like an omnipotent being who had everything in the vicinity bent under his well.

Before all of this had escalated this much, Chanyeol could just throw the gun aside and just initiate skin contact with Kyungsoo to stop him but at that point in time, Chanyeol felt threatened and daresay- scared.

Chanyeol was well aware of the full extent of Kyungsoo’s capabilities. But it still stunned him to know that someone of such power was always close and right beside him the entire time.

The voices over Chanyeol’s earpiece was mostly confusion and requests of backup in the ensuing struggle. Then it all went silent, although Chanyeol could see his fellow agents, co-workers and even their vans floating around him in the background as they were told to wait for backup and stand down, not that they were able to do much suspended like that.

Then, Chanyeol heard the rumble of static over his earpiece and the familiar voice over it specifying that this order was specifically for him only.

“Do it, Chanyeol. Take him in or Minseok will take the shot,” Baekhyun instructed, “You have less than a minute before reinforcements arrive. We have more agents incoming.”

“I can’t reach him!” Chanyeol responded, still suspended.

“Then find a way or we shall,” Baekhyun firmly commanded.

The sun was beginning to rise from the direction over land as it faced east. The sky over the water was still dark although it was now a dark blue over land.

Chanyeol could hear a helicopter approaching as well as catch the sight of several speedboats incoming over water. It had been very cloudy earlier on but the sky was completely clear now, clearly from intervention by Junmyeon.

Time was ticking away and while Chanyeol had some trouble making a decision in Kyungsoo’s absence, he was clear of what he had to do now when faced right in front of the latter. The only question was if he had the capacity to perform it.

Chanyeol was one of the best agents in the CBG even with a non-offensive ability. It was not because of his sense of duty and discipline but mainly because of his talent to stay calm and focused even as the world was literally crumbling into pieces around him.

While Chanyeol’s feelings had wavered in the past thanks to Kyungsoo, the only person who was able to pull him out of the defensive walls he put around himself, Chanyeol knew absolutely what he had to do now.

It would hurt but this was what needed to be done.

With his finger already resting on the trigger guard, Chanyeol held onto his gun firmly with both hands and shot Kyungsoo, aiming for the latter’s arm.

The moment Kyungsoo realized he had been shot and begun to feel the pain of the bullet lodged in his left upper arm, he wailed and lost control of his ability.

Everyone and everything suspended midair from his ability were released, which sent not only the agents but also vehicles, steel beams and cement blocks pummeling towards the ground. The ship on the water was also taken over by the CBG, who now approached with their own helicopter and speedboats.

The ground beneath Kyungsoo had crumbled and once he lost control of his ability, he too was sent falling into the cold water below.

Witnessing this, Chanyeol quickly picked himself up from the ground and without sparing another thought, dived into the water below to rescue Kyungsoo.

It was darker in the water, although the sun was rising and the sky was considerably bright already. The lights from the helicopter hovering ahead shone through the water and Chanyeol was able to quickly find Kyungsoo who was unconscious and sinking deeper down.

The water was cold and heavy around him but Chanyeol managed to grab Kyungsoo by his shirt, before dragging both Kyungsoo and himself towards the surface, where they were assisted by the other agents on a boat.

It was even colder while drenched wet on the boat. Another agent handed Chanyeol a blanket and he wrapped it around his person, hugging himself on the deck of the boat, only able to watch as the agents inspected a still unconscious Kyungsoo for vitality signs and his injury.

Chanyeol looked to the sky with the helicopter still hovering overhead, loud noises and commotion all around him while the only person he loved was probably in the biggest problem of his life. But yet, Chanyeol was able to close his eyes and drown out all the noises, finding peace within himself.

This was as much as he could do. He was merely a bow and Kyungsoo was the arrow.


	8. What we have

After the incident, an entire smuggling ring was exposed and dismantled. The ship was never able to leave and it was detained with everyone on-board.

Yuta was deported back to Japan and banned from entering South Korea ever again The same could not be said for the Gifteds captured on that day.

Soojung, it turns out, was actually from a rather influential family of non-Gifteds. She was known to be sympathetic towards Gifteds and after meeting Yixing while on a holiday to China several years ago, she had run away from home to be able to help him and the Gifted children.

She was returned to her family and later send abroad to live with her sister in order to protect the family’s reputation.

Meanwhile, Kyungsoo inhabited cell number 483 on the sixth basement floor beneath the Gifted Detention Center. In the same building where numerous other people he had once arrested were also spending the rest of their lives in.

Kyungsoo’s trial was held immediately after he was discharged from the hospital. The court trial only lasted a day before he was sentenced to life imprisonment, the only charge possible for every Gifted who was found accused of any crime. By law, if one was a Gifted, they were guilty unless proven innocent. 

Chanyeol didn’t attend the trial and Kyungsoo was glad he didn’t, because Kyungsoo wouldn’t have known what to do if Chanyeol had been there. Kyungsoo already had a hard time enough to catch the glimpse of Sehun and Jongin’s worried face in the audience.

Kyungsoo last saw daylight from when he was escorted outside of the courtroom and into the back of the CBG van. That was two months ago.

Now, every other day, Chanyeol would drop by after work to visit Kyungsoo for an hour or two at the detention center.

Chanyeol would bring books and board games for Kyungsoo to spend time with. He would make every second count and talk to Kyungsoo as if they weren’t right there in a prison.

Kyungsoo was also subjugated daily to being administered with dangerous experimental drugs that inhibited his ability. That was on top of constant interrogations and mental torment over his previous actions and its consequences. Former agents always had it worse.

It was clear how all of this was mentally detrimental to Kyungsoo but Chanyeol still refused to accept that this had become. That the Kyungsoo he once knew was slowly disappearing.

At least he wasn’t doing the torture, Chanyeol surmised.

That was until Chanyeol came to visit one evening to find out that Kyungsoo had attempted to commit suicide while in detention.

Kyungsoo would attempt to eat the paper from the books Chanyeol bought for him. Kyungsoo had also attempted to cut himself through the edges of the paper he had torn off.

After his stunt, Kyungsoo was bound for up to twenty hours a day to his bed, unable to move freely without supervision.

Chanyeol often found Kyungsoo soiled in his own feces and urine. Knowing the guards would never clean it up unless instructed to, Chanyeol took the liberty to do it himself while Kyungsoo screamed and hid in a corner from him, snapping at Chanyeol to not come any closer.

Due to the stress, Kyungsoo slowly began to forget his memories and constantly lived in a state of fear.

Chanyeol really tried to make the best out of Kyungsoo’s current conditions because nothing about his feelings had changed.

At one point, Kyungsoo refused to eat in another attempt to kill himself. He would growl and attempt to bite off the fingers of the guards who tried to feed him.

When Chanyeol came around, the guards were just about to force-feed Kyungsoo through a feeding tube. Chanyeol knew it would be agonizing but he decided that it would better in his hands than that of the guards.

Kyungsoo was strapped to a chair while a speculum forced his jaw open before Chanyeol himself was forced to push down a feeding tube into Kyungsoo’s throat. And if Kyungsoo gagged and vomited on the food, he would be forcibly fed again until his face was a mess of vomit and tears.

To assist this process, Kyungsoo had a few of his wisdom teeth removed without anesthesia, just so the speculum could fit better in his mouth. As punishment for assaulting the guards, Kyungsoo even had his nails pulled out.

It got too painful for Chanyeol and he stopped coming around so often, dropping in once a week or so. Almost three months since Kyungsoo was admitted into the detention center, Chanyeol was called in one night to the detention center because Kyungsoo was dying after all the stress he was subjected to.

Kyungsoo’s vitality was fading. His breathing was ragged and his heartbeat was weak. He was only twenty-one years old but his state was akin to that of a dying old man.

A medic informed Chanyeol that Kyungsoo might not make it until the morning of the next day, calling Chanyeol just in case.

Chanyeol had walked into Kyungsoo’s cell, to find Kyungsoo lying on his side on the hard bed with his eyes half-open as he struggled to breathe. He seemed conscious but not really aware of his surroundings.

Kyungsoo had lost so much weight since then. His frame was frail and weak, his cheeks hollowed out and his bones more pronounced. His hair was matted and shedding from the stress, evident by the clumps of hair stuck to his pillow.

Chanyeol pulled up a chair to sit near the edge of the bed beside Kyungsoo. It hadn’t hit him yet but Chanyeol was bracing himself for what would happen.

“Kyungsoo…,” Chanyeol softly called out, holding one of Kyungsoo’s hand in his own larger hands, intertwining their fingers together.

Chanyeol didn’t expect a response and he was actually genuinely surprised to feel Kyungsoo weakly tugging back on his hand. Chanyeol’s breath hitched when Kyungsoo attempted to speak.

“-hyung…,” Kyungsoo’s voice was hoarse and faint.

“Kyungsoo,” Chanyeol repeated, holding on tighter to Kyungsoo’s hand, admitting that he was not ready to let go so soon, “It’s alright. I’m here.”

“Hyung…,” Kyungsoo attempted to speak yet again, “Hyung…please.”

“Please what?” Chanyeol was beyond concerned, “Tell me. I’m listening.”

“Please…kill me,” Kyungsoo pleaded, “I cannot…live anymore. I can’t. Please.”

“No,” Chanyeol shook his head, keeping his voice down low, “I can’t do that.”

“Why not?” Kyungsoo began to chuckle weakly, “I’ve already died the day I left.”

Chanyeol was in shock, although his expression and body language showed none of that.

Kyungsoo was right. Essentially, as a person, he had faded away and what was left was merely his physical body.

Knowing this, Chanyeol knew that Kyungsoo would not make it through the night like he was said he would. Kyungsoo had given up, had no more strength to live.

He was long gone but Chanyeol wasn’t ready to let go yet. Chanyeol absolutely needed Kyungsoo, now more than ever.

Chanyeol’s plan would never work without Kyungsoo in the picture. And knowing this, Chanyeol sped off in his car, leaving the detention center as he headed for the headquarters in the middle of the night.

Chanyeol didn’t need to make any appointments to see the Commissioner of the CBG. It was a privilege he possessed for being the firstborn of the Commissioner, even if they severely lacked a functional father-son relationship.

His presence was simply alerted to Baekhyun by the guards in the lobby of the building and sure enough, Baekhyun was already there waiting for Chanyeol’s arrival.

Jongdae, Baekhyun’s right-hand man who was always by his side, was there of course. He always waited in the silence behind Baekhyun’s shoulder, acting merely as an observer.

“You promised me you’d save him if I help brought him in- which I have. I need you to uphold your end of the deal now,” Chanyeol requested, feeling more rage than grief in the heat of the moment.

“I know I did,” Baekhyun affirmed, seating on an armchair in front of his fireplace, with one leg resting over the other, “I did say Kyungsoo needs reconditioning before we can reinstate him as an agent. As he is, he is a liability. But loyal and subservient to us, he is an asset. I made this clear to you, didn’t I? But it was also you who begged me to let some part of him ‘live’. The best I could do for him was to lock him up and keep him alive in that case so he wouldn’t be a problem for us. Did you change your mind or what?”

“That doesn’t matter now,” Chanyeol’s voice dropped, “I was hoping he’d come back to me but the Kyungsoo I know is long gone and dead. I accept whatever you’re offering. I just need you to help him, I know you can.”

“Really?” Baekhyun arched an eyebrow, “You do know what this entails, don’t you?”

“I do,” Chanyeol confirmed.

“Right,” Baekhyun smiled a bit to himself before looking around to where Jongdae was standing behind him, “Get a car ready. We’re both heading to the detention center now. We have some work to do.”

“Yes, sir,” Jongdae nodded, abiding.

Chanyeol was surprised to find out how calm he was even at such a crucial decision. He had totally changed Kyungsoo’s life from here on if he hadn’t already previously.

It was frightening to realize how much power he actually had over someone else. Chanyeol never really fathomed it until then.

**

That same spring night, Kyungsoo underwent what was known as “reconditioning” in the CBG, being one of the few agents to undergo such a thing.

In order to save a dying Kyungsoo, he was fed with Baekhyun’s black blood, which possessed regenerative and healing capabilities. It was apparently what allowed Baekhyun near-immortality and invincibility.

Then, Jongdae, who had the ability to tap into a person’s mind, altered Kyungsoo’s emotions and some of his memories. Kyungsoo’s feelings regarding the CBG and Gifteds were changed as well as some details in his memories to line up with his new feelings.

Kyungsoo was made subservient to the CBG. His feelings for the CBG were nothing but loyalty and reverence. He didn’t question their policies. He did what he was ordered to. He didn’t wonder why Gifteds why were treated less, he accepted that it was the right way.

Kyungsoo was made to believe that he met Yixing and left the CBG only to act as a spy to uncover an illegal Gifted smuggling ring.

Kyungsoo’s imprisonment was fabricated as him being comatose and warded in an undisclosed location for his safety. Even Kyungsoo himself believed this fact, especially after he was actually transferred to an off-grid medical facility shortly after his reconditioning.

Everyone else in the CBG who knew of Kyungsoo’s involvement was also fed this lie. But maybe, Jongdae who amassed all of them together during a meeting had some part in how everyone quickly believed this fact.

This wasn’t the first time Jongdae had done something to this tune, after all.

**

In the summer, Kyungsoo was fully recuperated. He was deemed fit for service again but was immediately transferred to the Busan headquarters of the CBG following promotion to upper middle rank.

It was the usual strategy to send away an agent who had been reconditioned for at least a year or two, to allow for whatever situation that ended them in the situation to tide over and settle down.

Kyungsoo was assigned to a different team in Busan while Chanyeol remained in Seoul and was temporarily partnered with another agent his rank.

However, the distance only served to drive their feelings for each other to grow stronger. Being apart made them realize how much they value the company of each other and presence.

Chanyeol and Kyungsoo began a long-distance relationship and although they could only see each other for a few weeks a year, their love and yearn for each other continued to flourish.

Eventually, Kyungsoo too stopped calling Chanyeol by the honorific “hyung”. Although Kyungsoo seemed different to Chanyeol, his love for the former never changed or wavered the slightest bit. 

  
Almost two years later, Kyungsoo was promoted to lower junior rank and finally posted back to his position in Seoul. Although, he and Chanyeol were no longer partnered with each other again.

Chanyeol was a 3rd rank professional at the time and had moved out of fieldwork into a managerial position. He was only sent out to settle complex cases and detain extremely powerful Gifteds if needed to.

Kyungsoo was also assigned another partner fresh out of the academy, Yeri. She was the same girl Kyungsoo had detained with Chanyeol on the train a few years ago. At the time of her arrest, Yeri was young enough to be taken in by the CBG and went through training and had recently graduated from the academy early due to exemplary talent.

Kyungsoo was now the more experienced partner of the two, after being the less experienced partner previously. He was now in a similar role Chanyeol once was to him.

This time, Kyungsoo moved back in again with Chanyeol and even though they didn’t get to see each other often at work anymore, they fell asleep in the same bed almost every night and woke up almost every morning to each other’s faces.

And every morning before going their separate ways at work, they would part with a kiss and an arm around each other.

Chanyeol promptly proposed to Kyungsoo in the first few months since Kyungsoo was posted back to Seoul. They were married shortly later in the same winter Kyungsoo turned twenty-four. In a way, they felt lucky to be living in a time where two Gifted men like them were allowed to be married. Even when homosexual marriage was made legal, it was still some time before Gifteds were granted the same right. 

Their wedding was a small private affair in a courthouse after their marriage license had been approved by the CBG. Only the Gifted judge at the courthouse, Yeri, Jongin, and Sehun attended the wedding.

After the wedding, they went to the usual noodle shop frequented by CBG agents instead of having a reception.

They could not travel for a honeymoon and instead spent five days off work to spend time with each other instead.

And then, life continued on for both Kyungsoo and Chanyeol as if the significant divisive event that led Kyungsoo to leave the CBG and him being handed this new life never happened.

But Chanyeol knew.

**

Chanyeol and Kyungsoo would have been married for two years in the coming January. It was late October now, almost November.

Kyungsoo was twenty-five years old and Chanyeol would turn thirty-five the following month.

It was cold outside so Chanyeol chose to wait inside the heated lobby of the CBG headquarters. Chanyeol had his hands tucked into the outer pockets of his beige trench coat, as he stood beside the glass walls, watching the people outside frolicking and making their way on the street.

The sun had set an hour ago. Fall had come and trees surrounding the headquarters building were dropping leaves even in the windless and calm air of the night. In a few weeks, they would be all bare.

Chanyeol had finished up work earlier that evening and was now waiting for Kyungsoo to finish and come down, so they could go home together.

Kyungsoo had obtained his driver’s license by then but Chanyeol almost always did the driving still. Almost every day, they continued to go to and back from work together.

Shortly later, Kyungsoo and Yeri emerged in the lobby. They were talking about something, probably about something amusing they encountered that day and they seemed happy and laughing.

Yeri saw Chanyeol and bowed to him in respect before bidding Kyungsoo goodbye and leaving for home, as she lived separately with four other female agents.

Even if no one ever brought it up anymore because they didn’t remember, Chanyeol surely did and he was actually constantly reminded of it. Even the smallest thing such as seeing Kyungsoo laugh or smile would incite Chanyeol to remember the hidden reality of the truth.

With every laugh or expression of joy Kyungsoo let out, Chanyeol found him questioning himself if this was actually real. Would the Kyungsoo he used to know react like this if he lived this life now? If he knew of what was taken from him? Would he still be in pain?

Chanyeol knew the answer to that but he wouldn’t acknowledge it.

That evening, Kyungsoo and Chanyeol went to the usual noodle shop in the back alley to have dinner. If anything, that was an integral part of their life that remained a constant. A simple routine that made Chanyeol feel as if the life he now led was not twisted and fabricated.

Honestly, Chanyeol didn't even remember the last time he last had a cigarette, after weaning himself off his nicotine dependency in the past few years. 

Kyungsoo was going through his second bowl of noodles while Chanyeol absentmindedly scrolled through his phone, leaving his half-finished bowl of noodles unattended.

“Oh!” Kyungsoo exclaimed, putting his chopsticks down and suddenly remembering something important he wanted to tell, “I received the promotion evaluation letter today! If I pass the test next January, I’m going to be an upper middle agent. At this rate, I think I might make senior rank before I turn thirty. Do you think so, Chanyeol?”

“Of course. I know you have it in you,” Chanyeol smiled back, putting his phone down on the table.

“It would be nice to work with you again,” Kyungsoo expressed, “Maybe we can be partnered together again once I make it to a professional level like you. I miss the time with you but I should take my time too since there are still some things I need to teach Yeri before she becomes the more experienced agent and takes someone else under her.”

“Me too,” Chanyeol continued to smile, looking down at his smudgy reflection in the clear broth of the soup, “We’re married now but I do find myself missing our time together before too.”

“Well, we’re different people now than we once were,” Kyungsoo surmised, “I do look forward to being allowed to work with you again if we’re allowed to.”

“Definitely,” Chanyeol went along, “…as long as we’re allowed to.”

After dinner, they both quietly left the store and were walking hand in hand down the curbside to where their car was parked.

The street was a bit packed that night, definitely because it was a weekend the next day. There were also other pedestrians walking down the street in either away.

Suddenly, Kyungsoo stopped in his steps with his hand still firmly holding onto Chanyeol’s. Alerted by the abrupt stop, Chanyeol turned to Kyungsoo to see what was going on.

Kyungsoo looked lost as he stared out towards the sidewalk across the street they were on. Chanyeol looked to where Kyungsoo was seeing but he didn’t see anything of significance to be concerned about.

“What’s wrong?” Chanyeol asked.

“I just…I thought I saw some woman with black hair whom I recognized,” Kyungsoo still seemed a bit lost.

“There are lots of women with black hair,” Chanyeol pointed out, although somewhat curious himself too.

“Yeah, I know but I just thought she kind of looked like someone I know,” Kyungsoo then brushed off, “It’s alright. I’m probably just seeing things because I’m tired. Let’s go home.”

“Alright, let’s get going then,” Chanyeol wrapped his arm around Kyungsoo’s waist as they walked off back to their car, although Chanyeol spent a moment longer looking over his shoulder, hoping to see this woman Kyungsoo talked of.

A part of Chanyeol actually wanted this woman Kyungsoo spoke of to be real. It was the same part of Chanyeol that wished this woman was someone Kyungsoo used to know before all of this. 

**

It was in December, sometime after Chanyeol’s birthday that year. He was home late that night because of the usual meetings he had with the board of directors. So, Kyungsoo had gone ahead and went home alone hours earlier.

Outside, snow had begun to fell that night when Chanyeol stepped into their even more quiet apartment.

Chanyeol took off his coat and hung it up before taking off his shoes and putting them away. He tossed his briefcase onto the kitchen counter. Then, he padded his socked feet over the heated laminated wooden floors all the way to the bedroom he shared with Kyungsoo.

Slowly as to not make much noise, Chanyeol entered the room where the lights were turned off and Kyungsoo was already sleeping beneath the thick blanket.

Chanyeol heaved a little sigh of relief to know that Kyungsoo was safe and sound before making his way to the washroom attached to their bedroom.

Chanyeol unbuttoned his cuffs and rolled his sleeves up to his elbow before washing his face in the warm running water from the tap. He probably was going to skip having a shower that night.

When Chanyeol looked up at his own reflection staring back in the mirror above the sink, while the water was still running, it took him a few seconds to realize that he was looking back at himself.

If anything, it was Chanyeol who now began to doubt himself and question everything he knew. While Kyungsoo was complacent in the life he led now.

This was the burden of the truth, Chanyeol now knew. This was probably how Kyungsoo used to feel all the time until Chanyeol decided to relieve him of it.

But the difference between them was that Chanyeol paid the truth no heed. He would live in this lie if it meant he got to see his goals through the end.

After washing up and changing into his home clothes, Chanyeol left the washroom lights on for some illumination in the room and joined Kyungsoo underneath the bedsheets.

Kyungsoo was fast asleep on his side, his shoulders occasionally moving with every breath. Chanyeol spooned Kyungsoo from behind, snuggling his forehead in Kyungsoo’s black hair, with his arms around Kyungsoo’s waist.

Chanyeol wasn’t sure if Kyungsoo was awake the entire time or if he had awoken from the dipping of the mattress and movements Chanyeol made when going to bed.

Whatever it was, Chanyeol could feel Kyungsoo placing a warm hand on top of the arm Chanyeol had wrapped around the latter’s waist.

“I love you,” Chanyeol murmured, breathing against the back of Kyungsoo’s neck.

“I know,” Kyungsoo responded, his eyes still closed and his voice low.

In the briefcase Chanyeol threw to the kitchen counter, there was a letter for him to be evaluated for promotion the following month.

It was one step closer for Chanyeol to achieve his goals. One day, he would take over the CBG and Kyungsoo would be by his side when that happened.

Then, maybe, Chanyeol would be able to give Kyungsoo the life he always wanted. And Kyungsoo would also be able to give Gifteds everywhere a different life. 

But for now, he would live this lie. It was the best option. The CBG was way too powerful and big of an entity for them to dismantle from the outside. It had to be done from the inside out.

Chanyeol smiled to himself and allowed sleep to come.

After all, they are gifted.


	9. What we would become

Chanyeol was promoted to 2nd professional rank in January and so was Kyungsoo to upper middle rank.

Kyungsoo turned twenty-six that year and Chanyeol, thirty-six.

Now the year was almost over and there were hints of Kyungsoo being promoted again, although he wasn’t too concerned about it. Kyungsoo was more busy preparing Yeri for her first promotion evaluation after successfully nominating her for it.

It had been a dry few months even though the air had been chilly and the winds biting cold since late October. Which made an outdoor mission slightly more difficult under these circumstances, especially at night.

Yeri shivered even under her coat, hugging her own arms as she stood in front of a temporary enforcement barricade outside a modern apartment block that had been sealed off. She really did not want to be there.

Kyungsoo was cold too but he braved it, putting the importance of his duty and the need to carry it out even if it rained fire from the sky one day.

Outside the apartment block, there was a CBG van as well as other patrol cars parked outside with at least ten other agents guarding the perimeter against onlookers and to prevent the suspect from fleeing.

Kyungsoo was standing beside Yeri, noticing her trembling in the cold winds, “Sorry about that. We should be done once we get the clear to go in and arrest the suspect.”

“I can’t wait to go in, seriously. I bet it’s heated inside. I’d rather deal with some rogue Gifted than this,” Yeri hissed due to the cold.

Kyungsoo gently patted her on the back reassuringly, “You can have my coat if you want.”

“That’s fine, oppa. You need it too,” Yeri sighed, her warm breath forming mist in the air.

“Alright then,” Kyungsoo looked up at the apartment block in front of them and at the barricades set up around the building.

Kyungsoo also looked up towards the cloudy night sky, appearing dark blue in the night due to the city light’s pollution. At the same time, snow began to fall.

Kyungsoo watched as a snowflake landed on his shoulder, gazing upon as it melted into moisture.

A registered Gifted by the name of Choi Jungsuk who worked in the IT department of the CBG’s Seoul headquarters had recently gone rogue. He was accused of leaking out private information of various high-level Gifteds to the public, in an attempt to supposedly “expose” these said Gifteds.

Chanyeol was also one of the Gifteds whose private information had been leaked out, alongside several others.

Although the CBG had mostly contained the situation by preventing the leaked information from further circulating, it was hard to permanently expunge data once it had been made available online.

Choi Jungsuk himself had fled once he was discovered and had now been traced, hiding in an apartment he leased under a different name. Jungsuk’s ability was that of basic pyrokinesis, which allowed him to generate small to moderate amounts of fire but nothing at a significant level.

It was also believed that Jungsuk had saved some top secret files offline in a hard drive kept on hand. Therefore, Kyungsoo was also assigned with the additional task to retrieve the said hard drive, which he was to hand in personally to the person who assigned him on the mission; Chanyeol.

Kyungsoo and Yeri were among those sent to capture Jungsuk and bring him in for interrogation. A preliminary team of Gifteds had been sent into the apartment block to ensure that civilians were cordoned from the area, and to locate any possible escape routes Jungsuk might take if he were to flee.

Once they were given the clear to go, Kyungsoo and Yeri made their way into the apartment block, entering the empty lobby and up towards the ninth floor via elevator.

Kyungsoo was now licensed to wield a gun and he pulled his out, holding it properly with both hands in front of him and pointed towards the floor as he made his way down the equally deserted corridor.

Yeri followed behind Kyungsoo on full alert as they stood with their backs to the wall, on either side of the door to the said apartment Jungsuk was still hiding in. Yeri had picked up a fire extinguisher in the hallway and was arming herself with it.

When Kyungsoo gave the signal, Yeri unleashed her ability, which blasted open the door for them to enter.

Jungsuk had known the CBG was there for them and immediately began hurling fireballs around the size of a soccer ball towards them. Kyungsoo utilized his ability to levitate the furniture in the house to shield himself and Yeri.

Yeri pulled the pin on the fire extinguisher, pointing it towards Jungsuk to render his fire useless. Yeri then swung the extinguisher into Jungsuk, aided by her ability in that one swing to slam him down into the ground.

Kyungsoo covered his mouth with one hand, waiting for the extinguisher foam to settle down. Yeri herself wasn’t able to see much but was sure she had gotten Jungsuk, making sure she put her foot down on him to make sure he stayed on the floor.

When the foam did settle down and Kyungsoo was sure they had contained the situation, he radioed over for the other agents to come up and retrieve Jungsuk.

Jungsuk attempted to resist but Yeri and Kyungsoo’s ability combined only pushed him back, pinned to the ground by the invisible force they were capable of.

While partnered with Chanyeol, Kyungsoo almost always had to do the fighting because Chanyeol’s ability was non-offensive and supportive. Now with Yeri, they could both fight as much as the other and Kyungsoo had evolved into the supervisory role Chanyeol had once been for him.

“You okay?” Kyungsoo asked Yeri, making sure.

“Yeah,” Yeri replied, wiping the back of her cheek with her gloved hand.

Hearing affirmation from her, Kyungsoo pointed his gun towards Jungsuk on the floor, as they waited for reinforcements to arrive and come take him away.

Jungsuk tried to fight back by conjuring fire through the palms of his hands but he was rendered immobile by both Yeri and Kyungsoo. Who constantly used their ability to push Jungsuk back to the ground and pinning him to the floor where he wasn’t able to move a single limb.

“I know you!” Jungsuk spat, planted to the floor, “You’re Park Chanyeol’s husband. I read your file too! You must know about what’s really going on in the CBG then, so why are on earth are you still working for them!? Let me go! We can be free!”

Yeri was confused at the accusations and looked towards Kyungsoo, who remained stoic and stiff with his gun pointed towards Jungsuk. Kyungsoo didn’t even break a sweat.

“What is he talking about?” Yeri asked, keeping her voice a bit low, seemingly afraid of some unknown.

“Who knows,” Kyungsoo muttered, unmoved.

Yeri looked at Kyungsoo. Even if he was here in flesh and person, it seemed that his mind was somewhere far off in thought.

Reinforcement arrived shortly later in the apartment to apprehend Jungsuk and bring him in. As other agents were restraining him to ensure secure transportation, Jungsuk turned to Kyungsoo one last time before he was taken out of the apartment.

“How could you have all this power and yet continue working for the oppressor!? Even when you know how it really is!?” Jungsuk snapped, his hands bound behind his back and at least two other agents with abilities similar to Chanyeol’s, keeping his ability disabled. 

This time, Kyungsoo much to everyone’s surprised actually answered, “Because my individual want is not above the collective need of others. The CBG is good for the collective mind.”

Then almost immediately, Kyungsoo instructed Jungsuk to be taken away.

The apartment was thoroughly searched and Kyungsoo kept the hard drive found in a drawer due to higher orders for him to have it.

Later that night, Kyungsoo dropped off Yeri at the house she shared with four other female Gifteds before driving back to the CBG headquarters.

Even though Kyungsoo and Chanyeol still shared the same address, they almost did not live together anymore.

Since Chanyeol was promoted earlier that year, he spent almost every weekday in the private quarters which was given for those ranked 2nd professional and above. He only came home to his and Kyungsoo’s apartment on the weekends.

Yeri had even made a joke about them being commuter husbands because of their current living arrangements.

High ranking Gifteds in CBG were known for almost always being in the headquarters because of the fact that they were made to live there most days. Those such as Baekhyun and Jongdae in the highest most positions lived permanently in the headquarters.

The higher one went up in the ranks, the less of individual freedom they were allowed to have.

Because only those who were seen as “agreeable” and hence suitable to the collective of the CBG’s ideal were allowed to be up there in the hierarchy.

Kyungsoo was alone in the elevator at this time of the night. Even though the CBG operated 24 hours, only a minimal skeleton crew was on duty at this time of the day.

He checked the time on his watch, which read 1:48 am and leaned his head against the reflective glass wall panels in the elevator cubicle, watching his own reflection as he waited for the elevator to reach the 47th floor where Chanyeol’s residence was.

When Kyungsoo reached the 47th floor, the elevator doors opened to a quiet and nicely decorated corridor. Doors leading to private units lined the walls down the fully carpeted corridor.

There were about twenty-four private units on this floor alone, which was reserved for those of the 2nd professional ranks. Each unit was a studio apartment around 600 square feet in size, around the same size of the cramped apartment Kyungsoo first moved into once he had become an adult.

Now, Kyungsoo had the pleasure of living almost alone in Chanyeol’s nice and spacious two-bedroom apartment.

Kyungsoo reached in front of Chanyeol’s unit on the left side wall of the corridor about four doors down from the elevator lobby.

Taking a breath, Kyungsoo rang the doorbell and just moments later, he heard the door unlock. Chanyeol had been waiting for Kyungsoo and he answered the door still fully dressed in his business suit, tie, and gloves.

“Did you just come back from the office?” Kyungsoo questioned, his hands in the pocket of his black winter coat which he didn’t take off, still standing outside in the corridor. He wasn't too surprised to know that Chanyeol had been working late again. 

“Kind of,” Chanyeol answered, realizing why Kyungsoo would be asking such a question as he proceeded to loosen his tie in front of the door.

“I see,” Kyungsoo nodded, finding the hard drive in an inner coat pocket before handing it to Chanyeol, “Here, I got what you asked for. If there’s nothing else, I’ll take my leave then.”

“Thanks,” Chanyeol muttered back, stretching an arm to retrieve the hard drive from Kyungsoo’s hand.

Kyungsoo’s hand was bare. He had left his gloves in the car and Chanyeol could see that Kyungsoo was not wearing his wedding ring but neither was Chanyeol.

“It’s late. Do you want to sleep over?” Chanyeol suggested, letting go of Kyungsoo’s hand.

“I suppose I could. I'm a bit lazy to drive back home,” Kyungsoo smiled a bit, stepping inside.

Chanyeol closed the door once Kyungsoo was inside and they moved to the hallway into the living room cum bedroom.

Putting an arm around Kyungsoo’s waist to pull him in closer, Chanyeol leaned in to give Kyungsoo a kiss on the lips, which was reciprocated shortly later.

Kyungsoo sighed softly once their lips parted. He was still in Chanyeol’s embrace and lifted a hand up to stroke Chanyeol’s cheek with the back of his palm.

Chanyeol closed his eyes, allowing himself to lean into the touch and warmth.

It was also calming for Kyungsoo to just touch Chanyeol, knowing that he would never have an uncontrollable outburst of power with Chanyeol around. This was where he felt the safest and secure.

“So, Kyungsoo…,” Chanyeol trailed off before continuing, “About your recommendation for promotion. Have you thought about it yet? You know, Yeri can come too if you don’t want to leave her behind. After all, we’re going to need a few more people for the new investigation department too. I didn’t play the role of the obedient son not so I couldn’t have you with me again.”

Kyungsoo moved his hand from Chanyeol’s face to the latter’s shoulder. He looked sideways to the wall and then back to Chanyeol, “I know I have to eventually join you there sooner or later but I’ve grown rather comfortable there.”

“I understand. I did too,” Chanyeol affirmed, with both of his arms wrapped around Kyungsoo as he leaned slightly downwards to meet Kyungsoo’s eye level. With a much lower voice and his lips closer to Kyungsoo’s ears, he hushed, “-but there’s not much we can do there. We have to move up if we’re ever going to-”

“I know,” Kyungsoo cut Chanyeol off before he could finish, “I know what we have to do, hyung.”

Chanyeol didn’t need to say anything else anymore. He hugged Kyungsoo, bending down to rest his head in the crook of Kyungsoo’s neck at a lower level than his own. Kyungsoo hugged him back, looking up towards the ceiling instead.

Right now, they were closer than they ever were.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I intended to end the fic at Chapter 8 but I really wanted to expand a bit more on the post "reconditioned" Kyungsoo who is hinted at to have his memories and old personality returned. You can see this chapter as a little bonus and window to the future. 
> 
> One would expect that Kyungsoo would still be the brash and a bit emotionally charged person he was, especially after he learns of the truth of the CBG and what they did to him. But instead, he's actually pretty calm and collected even when he clearly knows who and what he is working for now. In a way, he has accepted that the CBG is probably the best bet the Gifteds have for now, simply because there is no other entity out there for them. 
> 
> Kyungsoo has come to terms and "settled" down but he does maintain hope in Chanyeol's belief and plan that maybe they can reform the CBG from inside out. When that time comes, he'll be at Chanyeol's side surely. 
> 
> If everything goes well, I might write a continuation of this fic where how Kyungsoo supposedly got his memories back is exposed, how he deals with his day to day life and "accepting" the CBG and where he redefines his personal values and belief.


End file.
